


Midnight Sun

by Shouting_Star



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Addictions, Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence, Canon compliant powers, Fluffy Smut, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Plot matters, Realistic Character Development, Sibling Incest, Slow Build, Uchihacest, Visual Prowess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2019-08-27 19:43:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 50,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16708828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shouting_Star/pseuds/Shouting_Star
Summary: More than ten years have past since the war. Konohana has been rebuilt, Sasuke has a wife and a daughter. Even the world is at peace.Yet the old wounds aren't healing. Since Itachi died, Sasuke is missing an essential part of himself. For ten years, he's been drowning in grief until he found a way to get his brother back.Now, he's ready to lose everything and everyone just to see Itachi again.





	1. Homesick

**Author's Note:**

> The story is set before Boruto - Naruto next generation and will stray from Boruto's plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke returns to Konohana after another long mission.

Shinobi were practicing on the training ground. A handful of youths were honing their skills under the supervision of jonin. Shouts, echoes of conversations and the clattering of the metal was filling the air. 

With a deadly speed, a shuriken hit the centre of a target. It was followed by another one and another again and ten more. The man who had thrown them didn’t seem like he needed training at all. 

He was dressed in black. The majority of his body was concealed by a loosely fitting cloak buttoned up to his neck. Like the wing of a crow, a fringe of dark hair was hiding his left eye. 

Sasuke had arrived in Konoha an hour ago and he had spent this hour on the training ground, hitting the target until he had no more shuriken. 

Konoha had been rebuilt and had gleefully jumped into the modern world. Sasuke didn’t know its streets anymore, didn’t recognize any of the shops. The past had been erased and he felt even more like a stranger in his hometown than in any other town.

In the other hand, he could summon a reassuring sense of familiarity by training. He could taste the past on his fingertips, by the way the weapon easily found its way to the red dot of the target.

When he had thrown the very last of his shuriken, he looked up. In the distance, he could see the great stone faces. They had witnessed everything and they had not forgotten. They carried the past and they shouldered the future. Impassable and lofty, they watched over the buzzing town. Sasuke couldn’t help but smirk when he saw Naruto’s head carved in the rocks. He looked so serious, like a real hokage. ‘He is the hokage’ corrected the black haired man in his head. 

Sasuke collected all of his shuriken and started all over again. He sent the weapon with a swift movement of his wrist. It hit the edge of one of the shuriken that was already stuck there.

“What did this target do to offense you to that extent?”  
Sasuke swiveled to face his interlocutor, “Stealthy as ever, Kakashi san.”  
The man had shaggy white hair and bore a scar on his left eye. He pulled Sasuke in a warm hug. “If the guard at the door hadn’t told me you were there, I wouldn’t have known it.  
—But here you are even if I didn’t tell anything...” Sasuke didn’t smile but his expression had softened. 

Kakashi glanced at him from head to toe. His former student seemed to be in a good shape. “I thought you’d be with your wife.  
—I was going to. I have to visit my daughter.”  
The white haired man approved.  
“You should come more frequently. One day you’ll knock at the door and Sarada won’t recognize her dad.  
—That’s not the worst thing that could happen to her.”  
Kakashi scratched the stubble on his cheek,  
“It’s not the best thing either.”  
Sasuke looked into the distance, farther than Konoha’s limits, “I don’t know how to be a dad. I’m not cut out for it.  
—I’m sure Sarada would appreciate even if you just tried.”  
Sasuke stepped back from his mentor, “So much for the emotional reunion.”  
The shinobi shook his head and ruffled his already messy hair, “Arrrrg, I shouldn’t have said that. Anyway, it’s good to see you home.”  
Sasuke allowed himself a quick smile, “Say hello to Iruka san for me. I need to find my wife and my daughter, now.” Lifting the satchel on his shoulder, he waved Kakashi goodbye. 

He climbed on the roof of a tall building and scanned the gleaming city. He sprinted atop of the houses heading toward the recognisable bulk of the hospital. Their house was close by for practical reasons.

With his speed and his stealth, the ordinary people in the street wouldn’t even be able to spot his black shadow flying above their heads. Finally, he recognised a more familiar neighbourhood and in no time he reached the doorstep of their house. He rummage in his travel pouch before getting to the conclusion that he had lost the key.  
He knocked on the door and heard the sound of someone rushing inside. A chill ran along his spine.

The door opened to reveal a pink haired woman. He smiled at the look of surprise painted all over her face when she called his name. Sasuke delicately hit her forehead with the tip of his finger, “I’m home.” She giggled and sniffed.  
“I almost thought you had forgotten about your wife.” Her voice was playful but laden with emotions. 

She reached for his lips but Sasuke dodged the kiss to give her a peck on the forehead instead. Sakura hunched her shoulders but she accepted the friendly gesture, “I can never ask for more. Can I?”  
Her husband brushed a stand of her hair backwards, “Tell me how Sarada was born then?”  
The pink haired medic blushed and she said, “See, this is your fault. You’re so rarely home, the mere thought of making love with my husband makes me turn red. Ino never blushes when she tells me about this and that she’s done with Sai.”  
Sasuke’s smile froze a little, “It keeps our relationship as fresh as the first day.”  
Sakura didn’t reply but he could tell she was only holding back not to spoil their reunion.

Sasuke observed his daughter train in the garden. He could tell her chakra control was as good as Sakura at her age. She had potential. 

He approached her stealthily. She was so focused on the handsigns she was forming that she didn’t notice him. At the last moment, he caught her and lifted her off the ground as if she was still a toddler. She didn’t even startle. She wriggled out of his embrace and turned around, a kunai in her hand. When she realised who had grabbed her, she exclaimed, “Papa, it’s you!” A big smile illuminated her face.  
“Your reflexes are good,” Stated Sasuke.  
The eleven years old straightened up with pride, “I’m gonna be the Hokage, so I’d better be good!”  
The shinobi smirked, “I think someone would have been very pleased to know about that.  
—You mean nanadaime sama?”  
Sasuke shook his head,  
“I mean your uncle Itachi.”  
Sarada avoided his gaze, “I don’t know that much about him.  
—I should tell you about what kind of man he was one day.  
—But it will make you sad...”  
Sasuke readjusted his daughter’s crooked red hairband, “It’s fine, Sarada. You don’t need to worry about your dad. I’ve handled a lot more than a sad story in my life.” He paused, “Do you want to practise? ” Sarada adopted a serious look, “Yes, training is fundamental.  
—Then, show me how you throw a shuriken.”  
—Don’t you want to do something more complicated?” she whined, “Even a baby can throw a shuriken.  
—Alright, we’ll practise Gokakyu no jutsu if you can hit that leaf from the other side of the garden.  
—But... Papa, it’s not even possible.” She protested. 

Sasuke didn’t answer but he got to the place he had indicated to his daughter. He closed his eyes and threw one of his shuriken. The leaf fell to the ground, cut in two equal halves. 

Sarada clapped her hands, “How did you do it?”  
Sasuke collected his shuriken, “You can do it as well. All you need to do is to polish your elementary skills before you can expect doing anything more complicated, ” he added, “Moreover, our clan has always been known for its flawless shuriken techniques.”  
After this statement, Sasuke awkwardly turned his back on his daughter, “Have your sharigan awakened?”  
—Not yet,” Sarada hid her hands in her pockets, staring at the ground.  
Sasuke patted her shoulder, “It’s fine if it doesn’t.  
—Of course not! I mean, shuriken aren’t everything! What’s a Uchiha with no sharigan?”  
Sasuke knelt to talk to his daughter at eye level, “What makes you a Uchiha is not a technic. It’s the bond between the members of our clan. Even if we’re the only ones left.  
—What about mom?  
—Well, she doesn’t belong to the Uchiha clan.  
—No one has a stronger bond with the two of us than mom. So if it’s a matter of bond, she should be part of it.”  
Sasuke felt inexplicably irritated by that reasoning whereas it was only his own logic in the first place.  
“Some bonds can only exists between those related by blood.” It was enough to put an end to the conversation. 

***

Sarada had been sleeping for only half an hour when Sakura lowered the hem of her dress, revealing the curve of her shoulder. She crossed and uncrossed her slender legs. When her eyes met Sasuke’s, she touched the skin of her neck, following the outline of her collarbone. Sasuke straightened up and removed his hand from the side of the sofa Sakura was occupying. A wince twisted her lips and she readjusted her dress, shooting her husband a terrible glare. This time, Sasuke couldn’t ignore her,  
“Well, what?”  
Sakura dug her fist into the sofa,  
“You don’t care about me.”  
Why did he have to marry such a straightforward wife? He bet Naruto never had that kind of discussions with Hinata.  
“I told you years ago that I was not made for family life.  
—You won’t even look at me.  
—Nonsense.”  
Sasuke stiffened in his chair. No wonder he didn’t get home more frequently.  
“Prove it.  
—Don’t be silly.”

Sakura looked into her husband’s eyes, determined no to back off.  
“It’s driving me mad. You’re never there and when you are, you’re like a ghost.  
—I dedicate my life to protecting Konoha. You know that better than anyone.”

The woman’s voice shifted to trembling,  
“That’s enough Sasuke! You’ve repaid your debt and even more!” Her eyes sparkled with anger, “You’re just using it as an excuse for your absence!  
—You’re selfish.”  
Sakura tried to slap him but he caught her wrist in mid air. It wasn’t the first time.  
“So that’s how much you’ve missed me.” He said with acid in his voice.  
“You are restless.” Accused Sakura. Silence. “Will you answer?”  
Sasuke gritted his teeth, “Not all of us can act as if everything was fine and forgiven. If you think time heals all wounds you’re fucking wrong.”  
The swear word had escaped his lips,  
“Is it Itachi? Are you still stuck there?”  
She stood up stiffly, “The dead are dead, Sasuke! Life can’t stop forever.”  
He shot her his coldest glare, “Why do you have to talk about things you know nothing about? I’m off, I’ll sleep somewhere else.  
—Go then! You or nobody, it’s just the same!”


	2. The Aogan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke visits two old friends: one is alive, the other is dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Itachi appears in chapter 3, he's almost there!

Even at that hour of the night, the office of the hokage was still lit. A pile of documents so high it was fated to fall was perched on the desk. Naruto was trying to finish his work but as the night went, he was being less and less productive. He was rubbing his sleepy eyes when someone came crashing through his door.

“Sasuke?! What are you doing here?”  
His black haired friend tumbled in the office before collapsing on the ground.  
Naruto’s eyes opened up in fear and a rush of adrenalin ran through his body,  
“SASUKE? Are you hurt?”  
The hokage rolled his friend on his back, checking for blood but there was none. He finally understood,  
“Are you drunk?”  
Sasuke giggled. His breath smelled of alcohol. He sluggishly grabbed Naruto’s collar and got closer to his face “Hello, nanadaime sama...”  
Naruto softened and he helped his friend get up, “It’s sad to drink alone. You should have invited me.  
—Probably. Maybe, yeah.”  
Sasuke slouched in an armchair, unaware of his messy looks.  
“I thought you’d be staying at your place, ” said Naruto.  
“I would if I hadn’t had that fight with Sakura.”

The hokage tilted his head to the side with a childlike but benevolent look on his face,  
“Aaaaah, Sakura chan ain’t easy. You can always talk to me, y’know.”  
Sasuke fiddled with the hem of his shirt, “Whatever. I’ll be gone tomorrow.  
—What? You’ve just arrived in Konoha!”  
Sasuke sank further in the armchair, “You can’t make me stay... nanadaime sama.  
—Don’t be a prick, right. I’m asking you as your friend.  
—The only one...  
—What?  
—My only friend.”  
Naruto shrugged, “S’not like you’re being social or even trying to...”

Sasuke didn’t argue with that. His eyes drifted slowly around the room, lazily scanning the office and drawing conclusions.  
“You’re not seeing your family that much either.”  
Naruto squinted, “How do you know?  
—The empty instant ramen cups.”  
Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiling apologetically, “I would have done some cleaning if I had known you were coming...  
—Don’t bother. Actually, I just wanted to tell you I have found a new source of information about the Otsutsuki.  
—That’s a good news. Is it why you’re leaving tomorrow?”  
Sasuke looked thoughtful for a few seconds before he nodded. He brushed away the locks that were hiding his left eye, revealing the rings of a blue rinnegan. Naruto squinted,   
“I thought your rinnegan was purple.  
—It was purple, now it’s blue. Don’t ask questions, that’s tiring. Just watch.” 

Sasuke blinked and the air in front of him was torn apart. It cracked and squeaked, opening a rift through time and space. Naruto had seen him use his ability to open portals more than once but it was always breath-taking. Through the crack, he saw a dried up crater with ruins at the bottom. His heart missed a beat when he recognised that place. The half destroyed Great Stone Faces were casting a thick shadow over what could only be the ruins of Konoha. The place he knew had turned into sand and bones. That sight seemed to come straight from one of his nightmares. Naruto crossed his arms and asked Sasuke to close the portal. The hokage glared one last time at the desolate and lifeless crater as it disappeared.

“What is this about? Don’t do anything stupid Sasuke. What was that land? Why does it look like Konoha?”  
—So many questions.” An humourless laugh escaped the black haired man’s throat.

Naruto’s face hardened, “You showed me that thing for a reason. Now, you have to explain to me what you intend to do.  
—Alternative universe...  
—What?  
—I’ve found a way to reach modified versions of our universe.” He threw his head back and stretched his arm in the air. “There are millions of those. I’ve explored a few. I have seen things I thought could not exist. In some worlds, you and I aren’t born, in some, machines rule our lands, in others it’s only a tiny change...”  
Naruto knelt in front of Sasuke, seeking eye contact. “But what’s so special about the one you showed me?   
—It almost completely similar to our world except... that we lost to Kaguya.  
—So that’s why Konoha was destroyed. Why did we lose?   
—I don’t know. I haven’t investigated it thoroughly yet. I hope I will find some answers about the Otsutsuki clan and the divine tree there.   
—I’m coming with you. It sounds too dangerous to be on your own.”  
Sasuke rejected Naruto’s offer with a hand gesture, “Remember your promise.”  
Naruto felt his throat tighten, “That I’d stay here to take care of your family in case... something happens.  
—Exactly. And even more now that you’re the hokage.”  
Naruto reached for his friend’s hand and squeezed it hard,   
“You’d better come back.”   
Sasuke didn’t withdraw his hand. He looked at the blond man standing in front of him,  
“I guess I’m not the only one who can’t get over the past.”  
Naruto broke the contact between them, “Would it kill you to be nice for a change?  
—I don’t know, I have never tried.”  
Naruto ordered the papers on his desk and he said without looking at his friend.   
—Alright, I’m tired and we both need to rest.”

***

Sasuke had only been to Naruto’s place twice. He had never seen his daughter but he remembered his son, Boruto who was in the same year as Sarada. 

They entered into the house as silently as if they were conducting an infiltration. Everyone had already gone to bed and the house was still and dark.  
Naruto joined the parental bedroom while Sasuke settled in the sofa with a blanket. He tried to stretch his legs in a comfortable position but he was too tall. He turned on his side, curling into a ball. 

He was sleeping in his best friend’s sofa when he could have slept in his own bed. He had a house but he couldn’t call it his home. He had a child but he was seeing her so rarely she grew five inches between his visits. He had a best friend but he didn’t even trust him enough to tell him about what he really intended to do. 

Sasuke clasped his arms around his head. The numbing effect of the sake was wearing off. He didn’t like being in Konoha. If the buildings and the streets had changed, the memories were still there, clinging to all the people he knew. This place made him feel like a living ghost.  
His friends had moved on. They had made their peace for all the fathers, the daughters, the brothers swallowed in the war. Sasuke was still an angry boy and a grieving man, carrying out his mission relentlessly. He liked to think it was for the sake of Konoha but really it was the only way for him to keep his sanity. 

Sakura had tried to get him to speak about it with a professional. She was truly a medic, always trying to fix everything! Yes, they could give Naruto a new and functional arm. No, they couldn’t force together the pieces of a broken heart. 

With a growl, Sasuke threw the blanket on the floor. His head was pounding and he felt nauseous. He headed for the door, holding on to the furniture. As soon as he turned the handle, the fresh air hit his face. He knelt in the dust, bending forward and clutching his knees. Sake was disgusting. He threw up in the grass. 

“That’s gross.” Said a boyish voice in his back.   
The black haired man peered behind him. Messy blond hair, blue eyes and a cheeky grin.  
“You’ve grown up, Boruto kun,” Said Sasuke.   
“Do I know you? You’re pretty pathetic for an adult.  
—You’re pretty impertinent for a little boy.”  
Sasuke got up and dusted off his trousers with abruptness.   
“Who are you anyway?  
—Uchiha Sasuke.”

The boy gave him a stern look, “Dad talks about you all the time.  
—Surprising.” Commented the man with a forced smile.   
—I thought you’d be more impressive.”  
Sasuke had ran out of patience, he grabbed the kid by his collar and dragged him in the entrance, “Go to bed now.” He ordered. The boy gave him a daring look, not moving an inch.   
“Well, suit yourself. I’m not your dad.” Concluded Sasuke as he turned around. He didn’t remember that Naruto was such a pain at his age. 

***

Konoha was buzzing with life in the red light district. The noise and the crude lights were not doing his headache any good and his upside down stomach forbid him any more alcohol. A prostitute tried to convince him to get a ride with her. He gave her a handful of coins but refused her offer. The woman flashed him a smile full of yellow teeth and disappeared in a black alley. As Sasuke went past another bar, he heard a ruckus behind him. 

He knew from the beginning that Boruto was following him but he hadn’t bothered sending him home once more. He rubbed his forehead and pinched his lips. A well dressed kid in the red light district at that hour of the night, it was bound to draw attention. 

Sasuke shove away a few drunkards to get to the source of the noise. The blond kid had been cornered by three men. Far from looking scared, the boy was biting, kicking and struggling like a wild animal, yelling insults at his attackers. 

Sasuke rubbed his temples and got into the fight. He knocked out the first man without him even realising it. His two accomplices startled. The bigger one screamed, “Who is this ?”. He bellowed and charged at him. Sasuke ducked to avoid a punch and drew his knee into the belly of the massive man, sending him on the floor. He grimaced, clutching his stomach and unable to get up. The last one of them looked at Sasuke with the wide eyes of a rat facing an eagle. Panic lit up his face when the shinobi got closer, “Please...”  
Sasuke shot him a cold and threatening gaze, “Go away.” The man fled without further ado. 

“Are you alright?”  
Boruto jumped up on unsteady feet, “I’m fine.  
—I told you to go to bed.” Sasuke’s eyes were as hard as when he looked down on the thugs.   
The boy swallowed back tears and strengthened up, “I could have handled them.  
—Fine, then go home on your own. If you get mugged again, just say you’re the hokage’s son.”   
Boruto’s shoulders sagged. He stared at the ground. Sasuke squatted to face the boy but he turned his head away. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have followed you.”  
Sasuke held Boruto’s chin and made him look up, “As a shinobi, you’re supposed to be curious but as a shinobi you’re not supposed to get caught and even less rescued by the one you’re following.” Boruto hid his hands in the pocket of his sweater, twitching his thumbs.   
“I’ll walk you back home but there is a place I need to go to before.”  
Boruto brushed the dirt from his tracksuit bottom and followed the tall man.   
“Where are we going?” Sasuke didn’t answer. 

The pair of them finally got out of the shabby streets with their flashy neon and crawling illegality. Sasuke walked briskly, never waiting for Boruto to catch up. They reached the edge of town where only the moon lit the way. Their shadows, tall and small, melted in the other shadows. Boruto was sticking to Sasuke, careful never to lose him. He bumped the man’s back when he stopped suddenly.   
“That’s the place.” Announced Sasuke. The dim light of the moon was barely enough to reveal the alignment of tombs stretching before them.   
“You’re visiting a grave?  
—Yes.  
—In the middle of the night?  
—I will be gone in the morning.”  
Sasuke headed for the biggest headstones in the centre of the graveyard. Their bulk was intimidating and Boruto was nervously drumming his fingers along his thigh. His eyes were scanning the dark and he startled when he heard the hoot of an owl. Sasuke grabbed him by the shoulders, “Stay here. I need some time alone.”   
The boy leant against a headstone and watched the man stray further in the cemetery. He was heading towards the corner where the heroes of Konoha lay in the dust of the land they had protected. 

Sasuke knelt by a grave that read ‘Uchiha Itachi’. His legs were numb and cold like the slab of stone beneath him. His obsidian eyes were riveted on the ground.   
He bowed his head and asked in a whisper, “Am I making the right choice?” The mute grave remained unmoved and the question unanswered. The claws of a icy wind wrapped around his chest and he shivered. 

Sasuke swept his face and produced a bottle of sake from his cloak, “That’s not much of an offering. After all these years I’m still a pathetic brother.” He popped the sake open and poured it over the grave.   
“I tried, Itachi. I swear I did but I’ve reached my limit.”  
No sake was as salty as the one Sasuke had dropped on his brother’s tomb.   
“Forgive me.”

***

If he had noticed his red eyes, Boruto kept quiet about it. He followed Sasuke in silence. His shuffling steps were getting sluggish and he even tripped. The boy kept blinking and fighting to keep his eyes open. Sasuke shortened his own stride, “Are you tired?”  
Boruto shook his head but he yawned.  
“I figured that much ,” said the man as he lifted him on his back. The child didn’t even protest and leant against his shoulder. If the boy was not heavy, he weighted a lot on Sasuke’s back.   
The last time someone had carried him on his back, it was Itachi. He was eight and his ankle was sprained. 

After that... Well, after, a lot had happened.   
Each day had been a fight ever since and Sasuke had burned like a supernova fuelled with anger and revenge. He had been used and deceived but he had also grown stronger until he became powerful enough to achieve his goal. 

Hands still covered in his brother’s blood, he had discovered the price for his vengeance. Itachi had never been a traitor and his whole life had been a lie. All the sacrifices he had made, everything in what he had believed had been turned upside down. His victory had been his sourest defeat. 

***

Sasuke dropped Boruto at the entrance of his home. Half asleep, the boy mumbled a “thank you” and climbed the stairs like an automaton.  
Exhausted, Sasuke crashed on the couch. In a few hours he would open a portal that would bring great upheavals in his life. Dread and excitement curled up inside his belly before his sleep deprived body dragged him into a dreamless slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For naming the aogan I used the general way of naming a visual power in Naruto series.  
> For example sharingan = copy eye, byakugan = white eye, so there you go: aogan = blue eye!  
> It's actually a blue rinnegan. How did Sasuke get it? Well, no spoiler! Read further and you'll find out!


	3. Through the Looking Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke wanders in a strange world, parallel to his own and lit by a red moon.

Sasuke waited until he got far enough from Konoha to open the gate between the worlds. It would have been dangerous to do it in Naruto’s living room with his kids and wife sleeping upstairs. No one could tell what could go through the gate. 

Sasuke revealed the aogan inside his left eye and the air split in two. His heart was pumping so hard he heard it thumping in his eardrums. He cast a last glance over the land were he was born and walked into the unknown.

***

The other side looked like a nightmare. Beneath his feet the forest had turned into ashes and pulverized rocks. He didn’t recognize the village except for the crumbling Great Stone Faces who were watching after the coffin of barren rocks where their village had stood.

As far as Sasuke could see and in every direction spread a silent desert. A red moon bearing the pattern of the rinnegan was hanging in the sky. Her corrupted light was sustaining the Infinite Tsukuyomi but it was nothing compared to the sun and all the vegetation had died. 

Sasuke sensed an immense chakra — Kaguya. He didn’t plan on getting closer to her. After all, he wasn’t there for intel. Too bad for Naruto. He had lied. 

The reason he was there was personal. As dead as this world seemed, there were other chakra signals beside Kagura’s and one was very familiar to him: a version of Itachi was alive somewhere out there.  
Sasuke had opened dozens of gates before finding him. In all the other worlds he had visited, his brother was dead or had never existed.

Sasuke checked the content of his satchel. Everything was in order. The row of kunai flashed a deadly gleam, he had rations in a corner and some of Sakura disgusting pills that were suppose to restore chakra and heal injuries. He took a sip from a flask and adjusted his sword by his waist. He was good to go.

His brother’s chakra came from the North. The Jûbi tree was also in that direction. It was likely Itachi had been trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

With each step forward, Sasuke felt Itachi’s chakra throbbing harder and calling him. The knot inside his stomach was tightening and he felt as if the flames of Amaterasu were burning his heart. He had been disappointed so many time, he refused to believe that Itachi was alive. He needed to touch his brother, to see him with his own eyes before he could accept that it was real, that he had found him. He was like a sailor at sea, fumbling in the night and trying to reach the coast. Itachi’s chakra was his lighthouse but just like the sailor he needed to touch the ground to believe it was more than an illusion.

The desert offered no place for hiding and Sasuke was at a disadvantage. He had decided to avoid conflict rather than dealing with the zetsus that were patrolling the area. Oh, he could wipe them in the blink of an eye but he was also sure that Kaguya would pick up on his demonstration of power. If she found him, he was dead. Without Naruto, he had no chance against her.

It was difficult to grasp how much time had passed. The Moon was still and high but the stars had revolved completely around the sky. Sasuke had engulfed as much distance as he could and he had not been detected.

His stomach and his tiredness indicated him that a little less than a day had passed. He set camp, ate little and slept for a few hours then he was going again. Walking and hiding and swallowing the distance with exhausting strides until he had to set camp another time. After roughly four days, he found the place where his brother’s chakra came from.

The monstrous Jûbi tree was spurting from the ground. His primal and tortuous trunk stood proudly in the plain. His branches were as many arms reaching for the clouds and grabbing pieces of sky. Its greedy roots were spreading in all directions and sinking in the ground, sucking all the natural chakra it could get. Jûbi had also hunted down every shinobi and trapped them into cocoons in which they were slowly mutating into a new life form. Sasuke perceived chakra coming from the cocoons. Only the most powerful shinobi hadn’t transformed yet, their chakra was probably a lot for the tree to chew on. He counted: Tsunade, Gaara, Orochimaru, Itachi and a handful of others he wasn’t familiar enough with to name. He couldn’t pick on Naruto’s chakra. Probably dead. That would explain why Kaguya had won. A shiver crept through Sasuke’s skin. 

He hid and observed the microcosm crawling with around Jûbi. Every thirty minutes, a cocoon cracked, giving birth to a zetsu still covered in slime and unsteady on its feet. Tripping and staggering like a drunk man, the thing seemed to instinctively know where to go. 

During the war against Kaguya, they had learnt that she was creating an army of zetsus to protect her from her own clan after she stole the fruit of Jûbi from them. Sasuke could understand to some extend her fear. He had come across the Otsutsuki clan and they were a nasty lot. Stealing from them wasn’t a good idea.

***

When clouds came obscuring the moon, Sasuke crawled out of his hiding place. He trod in silence between the cocoons, getting closer to the center where he sensed his brother. Instead of hiding he merged with his environment. He was no more than a night breeze, a shadow. Undetectable.

Itachi’s cocoon was hanging close to the trunk of Jûbi. Sasuke stared at it, aware that he stood an inch away from a potential catastrophe but he had lost none of his boldness nor mellowed with age. He cut the peduncle that was connecting the cocoon to Jûbi and clove the green cradle in which his brother was dreaming an infinite dream.

The man that emerged from the cocoon was Itachi. Without a doubt. It took Sasuke’s breath away. He couldn’t have told the man apart from his late brother.  
Itachi was still unconscious. His skin was pallid and cold but he was breathing calmly. Even his lips were ashen and drained from all blood. Sasuke found out they were cold too.

Instead of his black cloak embroidered with red clouds, Itachi wore an anbu outfit and the headband of the Allied Shinobi Forces.   
Sasuke brushed a strand of black hair away from his brother’s forehead.   
‘I’ve found you,’ He said as if he had just won over his brother in a cosmic hide and seek game. 

Itachi’s traits betrayed no emotions. He was still trapped inside the genjutsu. Sasuke had freed his body from Jûbi but his mind was still inside an illusion. 

The Infinite Tsukuyomi was just a genjutsu. Yes, it was an overwhelming one but wasn’t Sasuke a master in the art of crafting and breaking genjutsu? He had also studied the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It was a very complex jutsu that put its victim in a dreamlike state. It searched for the most meaningful memories inside his mind and made the victim live them over and over again. Some were very bad, some very good. It feed on the energy generated by the difference between the two emotional states. No one could escape from it without an outside help.

Sasuke lay abreast of his brother and took him in his arms, forehead connecting. He synchronized their breaths and merged with his mind. His thoughts were his. His feelings were his. His dreams were his. They were like twin brothers in their mother’s womb.

The sharingan gleamed in Sasuke’s eyes and he awoke inside Itachi’s mind.


	4. Itachi’s Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking the genjutsu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As said in the previous chapter, the Infinite Tsukuyomi doesn't show the shinobi their dreams made true as it does in cannon. Instead it breaks the soul by making them dream their worst and best memories. So the following chapter IS about one of Itachi’s memory. There will be an explanation about it later in the story.

The threads of the Infinite Tsukuyomi had been skillfully woven within Itachi’s mind. It took a lot of Sasuke’s chakra to find a way through the mental maze in which his brother was trapped.

The first thing he saw when he entered Itachi’s dream was himself. A young boy with round cheeks and obsidian eyes. His brother was standing next to him in his Akatsuki cloak. They were in a cavern and a storm was raging outside.

Sasuke didn’t try to break the jutsu for now. He observed the interaction between his young self and Itachi. The little boy was crying, ‘I want mam back. Give them back.’

The face of the grown up Sasuke darkened. Was this set after the massacre? Something was off: Itachi had abandoned him after he had slain the clan. He had been left behind in streets that stank of death and fear. He remembered how long he had wandered in there before the shinobi of Konoha had found him.

However, the little Sasuke had been taken along by Itachi. His brother’s face was sunken and exhausted. He tried to hug the boy but he pushed him away. His eyes were bloodshot and more crying was to come. Itachi knelt in front of him with his hands on the ground and his head hung low, “Little brother, I don’t expect you to understand but you have to trust me.” His voice broke in pain, “One day, you’ll know.”

Sasuke’s small body was shaken with sobs and he shut his eyes very hard, “I want to be dead!”

Itachi was shattered by his young brother’s words. He stretched a hand and brushed his tear soaked cheek with his fingers.  
“I could never hurt you even if it would kill me. I can’t let you in Konoha. The elders are like hyenas ready to tear you to pieces. You have to come with me.”

No, this had never happened to Sasuke. He was unsettled but he didn’t quit his position as observer.

A man with a mask emerged from the back of the cavern — Obito. It couldn’t be more than a few hours after the massacre in which he had helped Itachi slay their clan. The man grabbed Itachi’s shoulder, “He doesn’t want to come with you. What did you expect? You killed your entire clan but you can’t give up one snotty kid.”

Itachi pushed Obito’s hand away, “I don’t take advice from you. He’ll come along. I’m not leaving him in Danzo’s hands.”

Obito shrugged and rose an eyebrow in a comical manner, “Do you fear they would torture him to get to you?” The question hanged in the air, unanswered.

The man crept closer to the little Sasuke and he said, “Do you want to stick around with us? The Akatsuki is not a kindergarten but I’m sure Deidra could be a great nanny. He’s a funny guy, likes when things go boom but otherwise very lovely and he has a better nail polish than your poor late mummy.”

The boy’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to shout but no sound came out. Itachi slapped Obito so hard it echoed in the cavern.

He rushed by his brother’s side. The kid was limp and didn’t even flinch when he took him in his arms.

“Leave us.” Ordered Itachi.  
“You two aren’t very fun.”  
Itachi’s mangekyô sharingan lit up in his eyes. Threatening and burning like hellfire.  
Mockingly, Obito stuck his tongue out before he disappeared in the back of the cavern.

Itachi rocked his baby brother against his chest like he would of a very small infant. Sasuke surrendered to his soothing touch and leant into him, clutching at the fabric of his Akatsuki cloak.

When sleep finally took Sasuke away, Itachi held him tighter and tears brimmed from his eyes. He petted his head and whispered incoherent but kind words in his ear. When his legs went numb, he installed Sasuke in a nest of blankets.  
He rummaged inside his pouch and fetched two red pills. He swallowed them without water.

Sasuke – the grown up one – felt like his stomach was about to jump out of his throat if he witnessed any more of it.

He broke into the illusion and called his brother’s name. It took a while before Itachi noticed him. As their eyes locked on each other, the dream melted away. Itachi was staring at him with wide eyes.  
“It can’t be…”  
Sasuke interrupted him, “Brother, you’re trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. You have to wake up.”  
Itachi kept quiet.  
“Just take my hand.” Ordered Sasuke, ‘It’ll break the genjutsu.’  
Itachi spoke no further but his lips were trembling. Finally, he stepped up but he didn’t take his hand. He embraced him. Sasuke hugged him back and said in a whisper, “Well, that can do just as fine.” And the dream was smashed. The pieces of the genjutsu were falling apart in a kaleidoscope of memories.

When Sasuke awoke in the real world his body was cold and so was Itachi’s. As soon as his brother opened his eyes, Sasuke saw that something was wrong with him. His irises were veiled and milky. They remained unfocused even if Sasuke was right before them. The realization hurt him like a stab.  
“Are you blind?  
—I am afraid I am, little brother.”  
Itachi’s breath was shallow and laborious.  
“Are you hurt?  
—What kind of shinobi would I be if I hadn’t been hurt?  
—Just answer the question! How badly? Can you walk?  
—First, badly. Then, no. I think several of my organs have been crushed.”  
As a matter of fact, he coughed up blood.  
Sasuke reached for his satchel and drew a long sip from his flask.

“We have to hurry. You need urgent care.”  
Sasuke was about to activate his aogan when Itachi grabbed his wrist and said in a grim tone, “Little brother, I saw you die. How can you be real?  
—Shhh, don’t talk. I’ll give you explanations in time but for now we have to get out of here.”

Sasuke opened the portal and carried his brother through it. Itachi couldn’t see but he felt a sudden shift in the temperature and how from a silent and dead world he was now in a place where bird chirped and the ground was soft like moss. He clutched Sasuke’s arm, “What’s happening?  
—Explanations later. We have no time to waste. I’ll tell you everything when we are safe.”

Itachi tensed and reached for Sasuke’s face. He brushed the outline of his jaw, nose and lips in an attempt to make sure the man who held him was really his brother,  
“I’m in the dark and confused. I fear you’re just another illusion born from the Infinite Tsukuyomi.”  
Sasuke hit his brother’s forehead with his index finger, “Is that real enough? Even blind, you can tell apart a genjutsu from reality.”

Itachi’s dead eyes seemed to stare at him, “Every fiber of my body is telling me that this is real but I don’t understand. I saw you die, Sasuke ! I buried your body…  
—What are your instincts telling you?  
—That you are my foolish little brother.”  
The white eyes filled with tears that didn’t fall and Sasuke found himself on the brink of crying too. His voice felt tight when he spoke again, “Right. Hang on to that.”


	5. Into the Snake's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke asks his former master for a favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all the lovely people who have left comments and kudos :) it is extremely encouraging. I honestly thought my story would interest no-one and it came as a big, nice surprise!

Itachi had fainted from exhaustion and internal bleeding a little while after his brother had dragged him through the portal. The Jûbi had maintained his body in a state of stasis but since Sasuke had freed him, all the wounds he had sustained during the battle were coming back at him. The leaf shinobi hadn’t expected that Itachi would be gravely injured. He was running out of time and his brother’s state was worsening. He needed a medic nin.

Sasuke could go back to Konoha but he hadn’t told Naruto or Sakura about his plan.  
He thrust his hand inside his satchel, his fingers wrapped loosely around his flask. He had one choice left: to find his former mentor, Orochimaru.

Sasuke travelled fast and stealthily. He summoned the giant snake Aoda to carry Itachi’s body.   
As he ran through the forest Sasuke felt the flow of the time with a painful accuracy. It was suffocating him. The minutes were ticking away and Itachi’s chakra was slipping like water in his hands.

Once he got close enough to Orochimaru’s place, Sasuke checked on Itachi. Pale as death but still breathing. A thin layer of sweat was covering his face and his hands were cold. The weight in Sasuke’s chest almost took his breath away.   
“Hang in there.”   
He prayed silently to whichever God who would be willing to hear him.  
He concealed Itachi in a thick blanket and made his shape unrecognizable beneath the cloth.

Before he entered Orochimaru’s domain, he was spotted by Yamato whose mission was to spy on the sennin. The man smiled friendly and gave him a bear hug that Sasuke couldn’t dodge, “What brings you here?”  
Sasuke pointed at the heap of cloth in which his brother was concealed, “I’m here to deliver material to Orochimaru.  
—Let me check it.   
—Nanadaime sama has insisted it should remain confidential.”  
Yamato straightened up and comprehension flashed in his eyes, “Secret prevails. Get that quickly inside.” He gave Sasuke a manly tap on his shoulder before he disappeared into the trees.

The entrance of Orochimaru’s basement was guarded by two snakes carved in a black stone and twice as tall as Sasuke. Their yellow glassy eyes gleamed with a threatening fire. The wind hissed and blew cold air in his neck. The man felt his muscles tense, ready for battle if he needed to.

From his teenage years spent with the Sennin, Sasuke recalled Orochimaru’s distaste for the filthy and bland hideouts they had to live in since they were on the run. This place was the opposite and made up for all the barely inhabitable basements. The building was massive and it looked like a temple. The path was bordered by colossal pillars around which curled snakes carved in a black stone. Rose trees bloomed between them, climbing so high it formed a hedge. Their crimson petals fell with each gust of wind and Sasuke recognized Orochimaru’s peculiar sense of aesthetic. He snorted when he saw even more snakes etched on every available surface. More fangs and scales. Even the wild flowers blooming here and there were viper buglosses!

With each step, Sasuke had the feeling that fangs were closing around him. He cast a glance over the motionless form of his brother, hoping he had made the right decision.

Sasuke didn’t even have to knock, Orochimaru was waiting for him at the door. They hadn’t seen each other in a long time and Sasuke was surprised to see his old master so young and feminine in appearance, “That’s a fitting body.”  
Orochimaru dismissed the compliment with a hand gesture but a hint of pink colored his livid cheeks. Sasuke met his eyes. The body may change but not the man!

“Sasuke kun, I heard from my men that you were coming. I thought you’d be the last person to visit me…”  
Sasuke was careful to remain impassible.  
“Indeed, I would have preferred to avoid this reunion.  
—Then, there must be something you need from me. Interesting.” He slitted his eyes to gauge Sasuke and invited him inside.  
Aoda the snake regained the plane he came from and Sasuke carried in his arms Itachi who was still concealed by the blankets.

Surprisingly enough, Orochimaru’s living room was another homage to the reptilian world. Sasuke laid his brother on a green sofa whose armrests were two snakes’ heads.

Orochimaru gasped when Sasuke pulled down the blanket, revealing Itachi’s face. The man regained his composure as quickly. The first thing he did was to open Itachi’s eyes.  
“They aren’t black. He’s not under the Edo Tensei no jutsu. That’s… that’s impossible.”  
He checked his pulse and concluded, “He’s alive but he’s dying…”  
Sasuke interrupted his train of thoughts, “Save him.”

Orochimaru put his hands on his hips, “So that’s the big favor you want from me… Is that how your mother taught you to ask for someone’s help?”  
Sasuke couldn’t suppress an angry glare but his voice was composed, “Can you save my brother’s life?”  
Orochimaru rose a thin eyebrow, waiting.  
“Please,” mumbled Sasuke.  
“I will. But you should do something for me in exchange.  
—Anything.  
—That’s a pretty big word. Let’s see. Give me your body.  
—I agree,” said Sasuke without an ounce of hesitation.  
Orochimaru scoffed, “Actually, you’re too old now. I pass.  
—Get to the point! Remember, I have to power to make you comply if I have to.”  
Orochimaru crossed his legs elegantly.  
“There’s no reason for it. I’ll help you but I want to know how this ‘miracle’ did happen.  
—Cure him and I’ll tell you.  
—We have a deal.”

Orochimaru knelt by Itachi’s side and waved a complicated combination of signs. Gradually, his hands were enveloped by a warm glow of chakra and he traced with his fingers the paths of the meridians on Itachi’s body.  
“The spleen is broken as well as several ribs. One of his kidney has been stabbed and won’t function anymore. His heart is barely compensating for the blood loss. No signs of infection.”

Orochimaru had Itachi transferred in a sterile room for surgery. Sasuke was pacing up and down the corridor and sipping liquid from his flask. The Sennin came out of the room only in the late evening.  
“How is Itachi?  
—He’ll live.”  
Sasuke’s knees buckled and he shut his eyes, uttering a ‘thank you’.

***

When Itachi opened his eyes, he saw smudged shades of grey and white, then something that resembled a face bent over him.  
“Sasuke?  
—Yes, I’m here. How do you feel?  
—Alive.”  
His brother’s hand squeezed his shoulder.  
“Where are we? Has Kaguya been defeated?”

Sasuke remained silent and Itachi wished he could see his face. He chuckled sourly.   
“I’ve kept so much information from you, and now you’re the one holding back.”  
Sasuke’s hand wrapped tighter around his shoulder and Itachi felt its weight and its heat so precisely it was almost unpleasant.   
“Some explications are hard to give,” Sasuke cleared his throat, “it’s said that every choice we make create another version of our universe. Now, imagine that you and I aren’t from the same universe. Different choices. Different outcomes. In your world, I died. In my world, you died.”  
Realization stroke Itachi as Sasuke continued his explanation.  
“After years of research, I was able to find a way to travel to all the different versions of our universe. Now, what do you think I did?”  
Itachi’s face froze. “You are implying that you came from an alternative timeline to save me.” He perceived that the other man was nodding.  
“So Sasuke really is dead.  
—I am Sasuke Uchiha.”  
Itachi’s hands were shaking. “Can you leave me alone?”

Sasuke didn’t move. Instead, he pressed two fingers against his brother’s forehead, between his eyebrows.   
“Does it mean something to you? That gesture,” asked Sasuke.   
“Yes,” answered Itachi in a breath.   
“What do you feel?  
—Sasuke’s chakra.  
—What do you hear?   
—Sasuke’s voice...”

The black haired shinobi caught Itachi’s hand and guided it beneath his shirt, under his left nipple. He forced his brother’s fingers against his skin.  
“And this, do you know what it is?  
—A scar.   
—Which scar?”  
Sasuke was giving Itachi an intense stare. He needed confirmation as much as his brother did.   
“That’s the scar you got after you played in the forge and fell on the hot blade that had just been removed from the furnace. I bandaged your wound and took you to the hospital.  
—Now, tell me I am not Sasuke.”  
Itachi couldn’t see his face so the black haired shinobi put his brother’s hand on his lips for him to sense he was smiling.  
Itachi’s expression lost all its hardness and his lips curled slightly.   
“You are a foolish young brother.”

***

Orochimaru had lived long enough to witness things he thought impossible but he had never seen something as surprising as Sasuke’s new ability to access alternative timelines. The possibilities were mind-blowing and Sasuke had exploited it to its fullest. He had cheated Death!  
Orochimaru hasn’t been that excited since the Great War.

“So you’re saying that you can access every version of history. That’s fascinating. Even Madara didn’t awaken his sharingan to this extent.  
Sasuke had slouched in the sofa and he was giving Orochimaru his most annoyed look. “I held my part of the deal. Now I’ll return to Itachi’s room.”  
Orochimaru tucked an oily black strand of hair behind his ear. “Actually, there’s one last thing. I want to examine your rinnegan.  
—No.”  
A reptilian smile stretched on Orochimaru’s lips.  
“Sasuke... You could have had Itachi treated in Konoha.”  
The leaf shinobi glared back. His voice was sharp and cold like a blade. “So what?  
—You came to me, one of the person you dislike the most, instead of your friends.” Orochimaru adopted a satisfied tone when he concluded, “You didn’t tell anyone about Itachi, did you?”  
Sasuke squinted, this wasn’t good.  
“Now, I want to examine your rinnegan.  
—Or?  
—You already know that. I’ll tell everyone your little secret.  
—You are a manipulative old git.  
—I’m a scientist. Show me that eye now.”  
Sasuke mustered up his most reluctant glare and brushed his hair backwards.  
Orochimaru beamed with a child like wonderment. “The colour has changed!  
—I call it the aogan.”

Orochimaru shove a lamp in his face to get a closer look making Sasuke’s eye water.  
“That’s fascinating. It’s such a dangerous eye. You could rule the world. Yet, what you decided to do is to bring back your brother.  
—I have no interest in ruling the world. I’ll let Naruto have his fun in that matter.”  
Orochimaru hissed and chuckled privately. “I’m curious...  
—Tell me something I don’t know.  
—... because it always takes a life shattering event to make the sharingan evolve. Experiencing loss awakens it, facing death strengthens it, taking a brother’s eye makes it eternal... What did you do?  
—Nothing you need to know.  
—I’ll try guessing then. I thought about that for a while. You take two mangekyô sharingan, you gain the eternal mangekyô sharingan. But, what would happen if you had two rinnegan?  
—Insane old man. There aren’t even two people bearing the rinnegan.  
—Not anyone alive, yes... But Madara’s eyes are still somewhere out there.”  
Sasuke sprung from the sofa, radiating a cold fury.  
“They aren’t.  
—There are. Ask the fox kid. He knows.  
—Naruto would never keep that information from me!”

Orochimaru smirked, “It seems that your friend doesn’t trust you that much. It turns out you didn’t trust him either or he’d have known about Itachi.”  
To the Sennin’s utmost entertainment, Sasuke left the room and slammed the door. Oh! he loved his former student!


	6. Weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers bond and have to face the consequences of Itachi’s blindness while Orochimaru plays mind games with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The feedback has been amazing so far. Thank you so much! I'll try to update as regularly as possible :)

Itachi’s recovery room wasn’t like those hospital rooms full of sweets, chocolate and flowers. The walls were bare and even though Sasuke could have gotten him flowers, there was no point if Itachi couldn’t see them.

Sasuke watched his brother sleep for a while. His lips were pursed and his black hair contrasted violently with his almost white skin. He inched closer to Itachi and saw the shadows of a bad dream twitching on his face. He knew what it felt like to wake up every night with anxiety crushing your chest and sweat all over your body.

Sasuke was still trying to process everything that had happened. Just looking at Itachi made his heart ache with violent feelings. He had hated him passionately and now he was confused because he didn’t know what he felt towards his brother. His heart was warm but so warm it burnt. He had never experienced this. For years, his soul had only been ashes and ashes don’t feel anything. 

Sasuke sat at the edge of the bed and Itachi opened his veiled eyes. Was he sleeping at all? He stretched out his hand to touch his brother’s face.  
“Now that I can’t see, I hope my other senses will heighten.  
—They will.”   
Itachi wasn’t so sure but he nodded slowly. 

“How did you lose your sight?”  
The shinobi’s look became distant, he was recalling the events that lead him there,  
“I was fighting Kaguya... Thousands had already perished or been captured by Jûbi. I thought I was going to die and I had made my peace with it a long time ago.”  
Sasuke dug his fingers into his palm.  
“I used Susanô and the flames of Amaterasu. Genjutsu didn’t work on her.  
—Kaguya’s rinnegan was superior to your mangekyô sharingan...”  
Itachi nodded slowly. He had been powerless.  
“I used all of my visual prowess in the battle and lost my sight.”

Itachi’s eyes turned a shade pinker and the shape of three tomoe was suggested behind the white veil that covered his irises. “I tried using the sharingan this morning and this was all I could get. I’m useless, Sasuke.”  
After a painful silence, the leaf shinobi captured Itachi’s hand. If he couldn’t see his face, he could still feel his touch.  
“I...” Sasuke’s voice was weak and broken, “Eleven years... Without you...”  
He stopped, now the words were stuck in his throat. Naruto was good at telling those things. He wasn’t.

Sasuke shifted away. His face was flushed.  
“Just don’t say you’re useless,” he breathed out.

Itachi’s hand fumbled in the air before finding his face. He ruffled his hair.  
“Eleven years is a long time.”  
He scoffed gently as he placated Sasuke with his touch.  
“It means that I am younger than you, little brother.”  
He heard Sasuke’s leg hitting the edge of the bed but he couldn’t tell whether it was a good sign.  
“How do you look like now?  
—Mostly the same... I can’t even say I got wrinkles yet. I just grew my hair.   
—How long?”  
Sasuke guided his brothers hand in his hair. He wanted Itachi to be able to picture him in his head.

The blind shinobi ran his fingers through his brother’s thick mane. The texture was soft like his own. He found they were cut at shoulder length.  
“Mine are still longer,” he stated.  
“I’ll let you know that I’m rolling my eyes,” said Sasuke and Itachi laughed light-heartedly before he added,   
“I don’t want to bother you but I don’t want to ask anyone else... Can you untangle my hair? I cannot do it myself.”  
His polite tone saddened Sasuke even though he was more than happy to take care of his brother. 

Sasuke found toiletries in a drawer and retrieved a brush from the neatly ordered items.  
He untied his brother’s hair and let the flow of black ink cover his bare back.  
They were hardly tangled but he kept brushing them because he liked how soft they were.  
When he was a little boy, Itachi had often let him comb his hair. Once, he had braided them with their mother’s ribbons. He had told Itachi how pretty he was and had cried when his big brother had begun to undo his work. So Itachi had kept the ribbons. Afterwards, their father had severely punished him for being a ‘frivolous fairy’ and a ‘shame to the Uchiha clan’. Sasuke had never brushed his hair again after that incident.

The door cracked open and Orochimaru stepped into the room.  
“The Uchiha brothers playing dolls. That’s such a moving family reunion.”  
Sasuke’s muscles tensed and he directed an aggressive stare in the Sennin’s direction.   
“There are all kinds of venomous snakes but you’re the worst of them all.  
—Thank you, Sasuke. Now if you’ll excuse us, I need to take care of Itachi.  
—I thought he was healed.  
—It doesn’t mean he doesn’t need care.  
—That’s alright,” said Itachi as he gently pushed Sasuke in the direction of the door. The leaf shinobi shot Orochimaru a threatening glare.  
“I leave Itachi in your care.”

Once Sasuke was out of the room, Orochimaru proceeded to undo Itachi’s bandages.  
“I had to take out your damaged kidney,” explained Orochimaru.  
“I hope you won’t use it for experiments...  
—I’m only interested in the eyes of the Uchiha. I generally disregard their other organs. And well, your eyes wouldn’t be of much use.  
—I am aware of that.”

Orochimaru coated his wound with a salve that filled the room with an aromatic perfume.  
He said in a casual and unaffected tone,  
“I’ve had Sasuke in my care for most of his teenage years, and I don’t know what you thought you were doing but you disturbed him to a great extent. I’ve always wondered why you let him live. It would have been a mercy kill rather than putting him through hell.”  
Orochimaru massaged the salve deeper into the wound and Itachi winced.  
“I was selfish  
—I thought so.” Commented Orochimaru with the satisfaction of someone whose hypothesis was right from the start,  
“Did you regret your choice?  
—Never.”  
Orochimaru put the salve away and cleansed another cut.  
“Did you know Sasuke developed a drinking habit when he was fifteen?”  
Tending the wounds, torturing the soul.  
Itachi remained silent but he was taking the news in.

“It doesn’t look like it but I took care of Sasuke. I was the one who put him to bed when he couldn’t walk. I was the one who watched over him when he had passed out and was barely breathing.”  
Itachi became very stiff under Orochimaru’s touch.  
“I know the story. You cared about his body, not about him.”  
Orochimaru clicked his tongue, “That’s not totally untrue.” He tightened the last of the bandages and added.  
“I only want you to realise that Sasuke isn’t your cute little brother anymore. He’s a deeply disturbed man and I fear that your return will be toxic to his already unsteady mental state.”

When the Sennin left the room, Itachi tried to rise from the bed. His legs trembled a little and he bumped the furniture on his way. Finally, he opened the window and stayed there until the temperature dropped, breathing the icy air and remembering a boy with messy black hair and obsidian eyes. 

A gust of wind forced its way in and he heard the ruffle of sheets falling on the ground. There was no light in the dark and it was night.

***

Sasuke dodged Itachi’s shuriken that flew into a tree trunk instead. The blind eyes of his brother were looking for him unsuccessfully. He had to learn to rely on chakra signals and sounds only. The first trainings were going to be difficult. 

“Katon!”  
Itachi’s breath turned into fire. The burning sphere inflated rapidly and was projected in Sasuke’s direction. The ground turned into coals and ashes. The attack was extremely powerful but even a genin could have avoided it for it was completely misguided.

Itachi activated his damaged sharingan in one last attempt to even scratch Sasuke. They turned a milky red and he drew a kunai from his sleeve. The only thing he saw more clearly was how weak he had become.

Itachi still threw himself forward, where he thought Sasuke was. He couldn’t be more than a few inches apart from his brother. He smelt his scent strengthened by an hour of training and if he tried hard enough he could distinguish the sound of his respiration. The rest of Sasuke was lost in a white mist.  
He slashed the air but never hit anything solid. A hand grabbed his wrist and stopped his motion.  
“That’s enough for today,” said Sasuke, “you have not recovered yet. There’s no need to rush things.”

Itachi dropped the kunai and sat limply on the grass. The prodigy had regressed to the level of a genin.  
“I have lost all my abilities to fight.”  
Sasuke sat close to him.  
“You have relied all your life on your eyes to fight. It will take a while for you to adapt. After I lost my arm, I couldn’t form any seal but I trained until I was able to wave them with one hand. You need to find what works for you.”

The shinobi plucked a grass and ripped it in smaller pieces that he threw in the wind.  
“I’ve never liked fighting in the first place.  
—I wish I could tell you that you don’t need to fight anymore be it wouldn’t be true.”  
Sasuke bumped his knee with Itachi’s. “I need you by my side. Powerful.”  
His words were like a punch in Itachi’s guts.  
“I will never be as strong as I was.”  
Sasuke wrapped his arm around his brother’s slender body. For now he could be strong for the two of them. 

Itachi leant against his arm and covered his eyes with his hand.   
“I miss seeing the world,” said the blind man as he turned his face to the sun. He felt the heat and the light brushing against his eyelids.

***

Sasuke hadn’t feel that alive in years — eleven years. Itachi was still recovering but he had no doubt that his brother would overcome his disability and if he didn’t, he’d find a solution. 

Due to his condition, Sasuke could only spend a few hours with Itachi each day. They trained for as long as he could take it. Then the leaf shinobi read books to him. It had been difficult to find interesting stories in Orochimaru’s library that only seemed to be about science and forbidden jutsu but he had picked one that tell chivalrous tales of long dead shinobi and it was distracting enough. 

After reading until Sasuke’s voice was hoarse, Itachi slept for interminable hours. He was still so weak.  
Sasuke hated being alone. It made his thoughts drift and he didn’t know what to do except avoid Orochimaru and train more. He was feeling a constant and annoying need to see Itachi.

The sun was long gone when Sasuke found himself before the door of his brother’s room. The handle creaked and he tumbled inside the bedroom.  
Itachi awoke instantly, alert like only a shinobi could be. When he realised the intruder was Sasuke, he sank back in the pillows. His voice was husky with sleep.  
“What time is it?  
—Very late,” said Sasuke as he climbed on the bed.  
“Wait... Sasuke, what are you doing?  
—I just want to see you.”  
The smell of sake spread insidiously in the air as the leaf shinobi got closer.  
“My bed was freezing,” said Sasuke as if explained everything.  
Itachi didn’t have the heart to comment about how his breath smelled of alcohol.  
The blanket ruffled and Itachi felt Sasuke snuggling against him.

A vivid memory came back to him. He was a boy and his brother a toddler. Sasuke often slept in his bed as child. He knew better than to disturb their father with bad dreams and the childish anxiety that sometimes came at night even to the bravest little boys. Whenever he wasn’t feeling so good, Sasuke invaded his big brother’s bed.

Itachi had never forgotten how much he loved his brother even in his darkest days but he had forgotten how close their were and how precious their bond was to him.  
It made him want to cry.

Itachi wrapped his arms around Sasuke who responded with a satisfied sound and buried his head against his chest. Itachi could tell he was appeased and well. 

***

The first night had the terrible innocence of childhood that didn’t know when ended tenderness and when began lust. They couldn’t have known either for they were children when it came to love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all the readers have guessed where this is headed and have no problem with incest. I don't think there will be overly crude scenes but there will be lovemaking scenes in the future. If it disgusts you, I kindly advise you to stop reading. If incest is not an issue for you, be patient and you'll be rewarded in the next chapters (by next, I mean in 6-7 chapters probably)!


	7. Sealed Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another thing Itachi did for Sasuke despite Sasuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so pleased and surprised to come back and find so many kudos! Thank you to all the readers. I hope you'll enjoy the ride as much as I do!

Sasuke woke up before the sun. He was disoriented and his head was pounding with a bad hangover. He extracted his stiff body from the bed only to bump against someone’s chest.   
Itachi.   
For a split second, he felt he had done something wrong or broken an implicit rule. He calmed himself. He was safe. He had done something a bit strange but certainly not something wrong. 

A disturbing thought pop up in his head but he repelled it.  
Nothing wrong. Just a little bit strange. 

***  
The day went normally. Sasuke focused on his training with Itachi. No unnecessary words were spoken but something had changed. It was subtle but obvious for Sasuke.   
Since he had rescued his brother, there had been a wall between them. A distance as big as the years spent apart. This distance had shortened. 

“Actually, you need to learn the basics again. Every complicated technic is a sum of elementary movements and skills. Fundamental skills executed flawlessly is what makes a shinobi outstanding and saves his life in a battle.”  
Itachi picked a kunai from the ground.  
“I taught you those words.  
—And I could never forget them.”

Working on the basics was tedious and exhausting but worth it. First of all, Itachi needed to get a better grasp of his environment. He wasn’t able to land a hit on Sasuke because he couldn’t locate him precisely. 

Itachi was sitting crossed legs, mentally probing the night that surrounded him. He was aware of the chakra of the human beings. He clearly sensed Sasuke beside him as a powerful sphere of energy but he was unable to tell his position. The trees, the animals, the objects, he didn’t perceived at all. 

The sun was low on the horizon when he became aware of something new. It had always been there but Itachi had never felt it before. The world was immersed in natural chakra that flew around him like a river. Every living and inanimate thing disrupted the flow of the natural chakra, creating turbulences. The world that revealed itself before him was chaotic and difficult to read. Natural chakra was rippling in all the three directions of space, colliding with the material world and being reflected in what seemed a senseless dance.  
Itachi didn’t understand this new way of seeing the world but it was something he thought he could work out.  
“Sasuke, I think I figured a way to sense the world around me.”  
Chakra gently rippled around Sasuke when he smiled.   
“I knew you’d find something.”

***

Orochimaru undid Itachi’s bandages. The wounds had closed up and only a scar on his back and one on his shoulder would remain. 

“It looks like you won’t need medical care anymore.   
—Thank you.   
—There’s no need to thank me. Sasuke paid the price for it.”  
Itachi got dressed in silence. He was still feeling weak. 

Orochimaru clicked his tongue.   
“What justified Sasuke’s night visit to your room?”  
Itachi buttoned up his tunic before he said.   
“How do you even know about that?  
—Do you think I don’t monitor my guests’ movements in my own house? Be careful Itachi, I know how Sasuke’s mind worksss…   
—You claim you know a lot about my little brother but he hates you,” interrupted Itachi. It made Orochimaru chuckle.   
“Well, do you know why that boy hates me?   
—You tried to steal his body,” said Itachi without a ounce of hesitation.   
“Wrong! That was the deal. Sasuke had agreed to it. He didn’t care about himself at all. You know when I told him I wanted his body, he thought I meant it as having sex with him.”  
The way Orochimaru hissed the word ‘sex’ was disgusting and Itachi’s eyes went wide. He jumped before Orochimaru, full of anger.   
“He was a child. What did you do?  
—Calm down my young friend. I did nothing like that. I’m not interested in unformed boys. I explained to him the real terms of the deal and he agreed to it. The reason he hates me is because I warned him you probably had a reason to slay your clan. I tried for years to talk him out of his vengeance. Sasuke couldn’t bear that I was right in the end.  
—I wanted him to believe it.”

Orochimaru ordered neatly the medical supplies he had taken with him.   
“Be careful. You did terrible things to Sasuke. The consequences may surprise you.   
—I’ll face whatever comes next to take care of Sasuke.”  
Itachi’s voice was firm and his will stronger than ever. He would do the best for his little brother. Always and no matter what it would take. 

Before he left, Orochimaru asked a final question,  
“Do you know what’s Sasuke’s worst fear?”  
Itachi looked puzzled.   
“He isn’t scared by a lot of things. If there was one thing… it would be to lose his close ones.  
—It would be such a noble and selfless fear…”  
Orochimaru smirked and he added, “but I don’t think that’s his worst fear.”

***

When Sasuke and Itachi finished training both were damp and found it difficult to catch their breath in the stifling atmosphere. They lay in the fresh grass, under the shadow of a birch. Sasuke drank from a gourde and wiped his lips.   
“You have really improved.   
—I am still adjusting but I sense you a lot better now.  
—You really are a genius.”

Itachi had never liked when people called him a prodigy. It was just a way to distance themselves from him but when Sasuke said it, it was different.   
“I can’t believe how lucky I am to be with you. Most days it doesn’t even feel real.”  
—So you will stay with me?  
—As long as you want me to.”  
Itachi hesitated briefly before asking the words that burnt his lips. “Did you think I would walk away?   
—I don’t know.”  
Itachi rolled on his side to face his brother. He put his hand on Sasuke’s cheek and said solemnly, almost like a promise.  
“I love you and I won’t let you.”  
The words were breathed close to Sasuke’s lips and he longed for a split second to close the distance between them. The moment didn’t last and it was barely a conscious thought. 

His jaw tightened. “You say you love me but you left me.  
—It was necessary.  
—That’s what you said!”  
Sasuke’s mood shift surprised Itachi. The leaf shinobi added,  
“In the Infinite Tsukuyomi, I saw you after the massacre with your Sasuke. My Itachi never did it. He left me behind and I was all alone. Everyone was dead.”  
A kunai in the heart would have hurt less.   
“I’m sorry. Your Itachi probably did the same thing I did.”  
His hand clasped around Sasuke’s shoulder protectively.  
“No, no. He didn’t, he abandoned me…   
—He,… I didn’t abandoned you. I took you with me after the massacre.”  
Sasuke’s expression grew confused and anxious.   
“I was scared that Danzo wouldn’t hold his part of the deal. You stayed with me for three months but… something bad happened. I realised it was too dangerous to keep you with me.”  
Sasuke shook his head, no no no. He knew it wasn’t true.  
“You were so miserable that I had to give you back to Konoha.”  
Sasuke really tried to remember but nothing came to his mind.   
“It never happened. I would know.  
—You don’t remember. I sealed your memory, I thought it would only disturb you even further.”  
If Itachi could have seen the furor inside Sasuke’s eyes he would have been shocked.  
“What? You erased my memories. You had no right!”  
Sasuke broke free from his brother’s touch. He dug his nails into his palms and was about to leave when Itachi caught his arm.   
“Don’t go away. I can break the seal.   
—Don’t touch me!”  
He shrugged violently his brother’s hand away and hid his chakra.   
The weight of the world came crashing on Itachi’s shoulders. 

***

Orochimaru spent most of his days in his lab, working on shady and probably illegal researches. 

Itachi’s nostrils were assaulted by the chemical vapors that filled the room. He heard the sound of boiling substance and the purring of machines.

Orochimaru slipped before Itachi. “What brought you here?”   
The scientist put his notebook on a bench and faced the blind shinobi.  
“I heard Sasuke and you had a fallout…  
—That’s between my brother and I” interrupted the blind man in a sharp voice.   
He felt Orochimaru’s curiosity on him like a sticky substance clinging to his skin.   
“You won’t tell me what happened but you still come here to ask something from me.   
—I never said…”  
Orochimaru interrupted him,   
“No more words. You Uchihas only speak to me to ask for favor. So what is it?”  
The Sennin waited patiently for Itachi to answer.   
“Are you aware of the drug coming by the name Kyoku?  
—I’d even say I’m the one who engineered it! That’s a dangerous substance, practically illegal in every shinobi village.   
—Do you have some?  
—I may have pills left.”  
Orochimaru went to the back of his lab, were he stored the raw material. Itachi heard him fumbling and moving things before he came back. 

Orochimaru shook a bottle full of pills before Itachi. “Here they are, the little devils. You can have one but I want to know something.”  
Itachi straightened up and acquiesced with a jerky movement of his head.   
“I heard Danzo used to feed this drug to the shinobi of the Foundation even after it became illegal. My question is, did you slay your clan under this drug’s influence?”  
The weight and implications of the question made Itachi’s knees buckle. His voice was constrained but even when he answered.   
“What does it change if I say yes? You deduced it already.”

Orochimaru handed him a pill Itachi knew was red.  
“Here take it. I’ll tell you what it changes. It’s the difference between an hypothesis and truth.  
—Are you to give me one pill only?  
—One is enough. It was design to be taken one pill at a time. How much did you use?   
—Four”  
Orochimaru emitted a strangled sound.  
“I guess it explains a lot… One will have to do.”

Itachi swallowed the round and small pill. A warmth spread in his belly followed by a sudden cold that froze his inside and ran in his blood. After the initial pain, he felt the sweet effect of the kyoku. He was calm, detached, freed from desire and emotions. The guilt was numbed, the pain smoothened, the sadness diluted. 

When Orochimaru saw Itachi’s skin turn paler under the effect of the drug, he asked,   
“You know what impresses me? You didn’t kill Sasuke along with the rest of the clan.  
—I almost did. The drug wore off before. As you told me once, it would have avoided him a lot of suffering.  
—What are you going to do now?  
—Go after Sasuke. As you made it clear you are spying on us, do you know where he is?”  
Orochimaru smiled thinly.  
“I do know where he is. You’ll find him in the Viper Wing. There is a room in which I keep my pet snakes in a vivarium, he’ll be there.”  
Orochimaru’s place had four wings. The North Wing was the Boa Wing, the South was named after the Cobra, the Est was Viper and the West, Anaconda.  
“You’re so obsessive about those animals.”

***

A yellow Eyelash Viper was curled in tight rings inside a vivarium. It lifted its golden head when Itachi entered the room and darted a forked tongue in the air before going back to sleep. 

Itachi instantly perceived Sasuke’s chakra. He focused further to make out his expression but it wasn’t conclusive.  
“Are you feeling better?”  
Silence.  
“Talk to me. I can’t see you.   
—I am fine.” His tone was dry. “You said you can make me remember.  
—I can.  
—Then do it instead of standing here like you think I am going to explode.”  
Itachi stepped forward.  
“I think it’s not a good idea. Those weren’t good memories.  
—Stop, just stop. I am not a little boy. That’s my choice, my responsibility.  
—I know. I’ll only do what you want me to do.  
—I want to remember.  
—Fine.”

Itachi stood an inch apart from Sasuke. He waved a handsign.  
“Release”   
The world broke. Sasuke’s head broke. He screamed. He fell.  
The memories were back.  
He was crying. 

Itachi knelt. Without a word. He pulled Sasuke in his arm. 

The three months of his life that Itachi had stolen, he was living through them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on the plot gets thicker and darker. It also moves faster. I can't wait to share more chapters!


	8. Three Months

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tale of three months in the Akatsuki.

Every night of the first month, Sasuke had cried himself to sleep.   
He didn’t even know where he was. He had seen scary shinobi everywhere in the building and he hated every one of them.   
He hated Itachi the most.  
He wanted his Mam. He knew she would never be there again. He was so sad. Alone in that little room. Only Itachi had the key.   
Before, Sasuke wasn’t locked up but he had tried to escape. Since then, the door was closed. Twice a day, Itachi visited him. He wished he’d stop seeing his big brother at all. 

Sasuke was sitting by the open window, squeezing the bars that separated him from the outside. His small fists clutched around the metal. His eyes had the haunted look of the wild animals trapped in a cage.  
A key clicked in the lock. Sasuke didn’t react. There wasn’t much that made him react these days.   
He didn’t have to turn around to know it was Itachi who stood behind him.   
“Have you read the books I gave you?”  
His big brother’s shadow hovered above his small frame.   
“Talk to me.”  
Sasuke didn’t think he could talk even if he wanted to.  
“I brought you sweets. Maybe you’ll like them. You didn’t even eat your lunch.”  
He wasn’t hungry. Not at all.

Sasuke sniffed. The wind was cold and he had been standing at the window for hours.   
Itachi carefully grabbed his wrist and moved him away from the icing air.   
“You’re gonna catch a cold.”  
Sasuke raised up his eyes and saw the scratches on his brother’s face. Itachi shouldn’t have tried to cuddle him the day before.   
The rogue shinobi rubbed the marks on his cheeks. “I know what you’re going through Sasuke, but It’s been weeks already. Even if you don’t want to see me and you hate me, you should still eat and take care of yourself.”  
A sparkle lit inside Sasuke’s vacant eyes.  
He’d live. He’d live and kill Itachi. 

***

Sasuke instantly understood something bad was happening when the door was slammed open. Itachi was always calm and never he had opened the door with more than a squeak.

A man was standing in the doorstep. It wasn’t Itachi. He had the same cloak his brother wore, with bloody clouds embroidered on the black fabric. Unlike Itachi who buttoned it up to his neck the man wore it loose and it showed the toned muscles of his chest.

When Sasuke saw the man’s face his blood froze in his veins. His face was handsome, really handsome but his lips were twisted in a cruel smile.   
“Look what we got there. If that’s not Itachi’s precious little brother. I gotta admit he hid you well.”

Sasuke’s instincts were screaming to him that the man was dangerous.   
“Who are you?” His voice was not more than a whisper.  
“I am a servitor of the Great Jashin. My name is Hidan. I’m one of your brother’s   
… collaborator.  
—What do you want from me?  
—Nothing. I only seek to follow the precepts of Jashin.”  
The man smiled slyly but his eyes were hard and they seemed to drill though Sasuke’s skull.  
“Who is Jashin?   
—He’s the Creator of Destruction.”

A chill ran through Sasuke’s body. The man’s intentions were unclear but he seemed to be up to no good.  
“Your brother could have been a perfect disciple of Jashin. He’s a God who demands only two thing: sacrifices and killings. Itachi did it the right way. The story tells he slaughtered his whole clan.”  
The man moved with a speed Sasuke couldn’t match and grabbed him by the throat. The boy struggled like a wild beast. He kicked and threw punches in the direction of the man but it was no use.   
“I wonder why he let you live. You are an abomination in the eyes of Jashin. You shouldn’t have survived. Itachi should have killed you but now I’m going to fix his mistake.”  
Hidan threw Sasuke against a wall and licked his lips.   
“Jashin also said you should use your victims before you kill them. My, my… you sure look a lot like your brother.”  
He caught Sasuke’s chin with his hand and made him look up.  
“I like those eyes. They burn with a fire I want to tame.”  
Sasuke bit his fingers and screamed.  
“I’m not scared of you!”  
He was. Oh, he was so scared. He wasn’t even sure his legs would move because his body was petrified.   
Hidan laughed. Sasuke saw himself dead and worst in the echoes of that laugh. 

He couldn’t help it. He desperately wished Itachi was there. 

***

Sasuke couldn’t say whether five minutes or an hour had gone. The air was cold against his skin or maybe it was just the dried blood. He was laying on his belly and Hidan’s hand was pushing his head against the mattress of the bed with an overwhelming force. Sasuke wriggled to escape but the fist tightened its grip.   
The other hand of the man crept along his spine and downward. A primal fear nested inside his belly. Something was really going wrong.   
He struggled, all his muscles tensed in an impossible effort to break from Hidan’s touch.  
“There is nothing you can do, boy.” Slurred the man against his ear.   
He felt the weight on his back increase, pushing against him. He squeezed his eyes shut. 

Suddenly, the weight was gone.   
“Get away from my brother.”  
Itachi’s voice was taut with a barely controlled rage. His face was livid and his eyes bloodshot. He could have scared a demon.   
“You won’t live enough to regret hurting Sasuke.”  
The mangekyô sharingan in his pupil gleamed with a hellish red and Hidan stopped moving. He didn’t even had the time to grab a weapon.   
The shinobi had fallen prey to an excruciating genjutsu, his mouth foamed and his eyes rolled back. 

Sasuke began crying. The cruel sharingan inside Itachi’s eyes was replaced with a soft dark pupil. He embraced his little brother.   
“You’re fine. You’re fine. He didn’t have the time to touch you.”  
His strong hand stoked his brother’s head. Sasuke gave into him, sobbing with no restraint.  
How could Itachi’s arms feel like an unbreakable shelter when he saw him slaughter the clan?

“It’s not safe for you here.”   
Itachi helped him adjust and button his shirt. He brushed his bloodied cheek soaked with tears. The pain in his eyes was like an abyss, trying to swallow Sasuke as well.  
“It’s my fault. I should have left you in Konoha.”  
Why would Itachi care? Sasuke wished fervently that it was all a misunderstanding.   
“Did you really…” The words seemed stuck in his throat “… kill them all?  
—I did. And one day you’ll kill me for it.  
—I hate you.”  
“Hate me. Make that hatred grow, become stronger. Much stronger. I’ll make sure of it.”  
Itachi detached himself from Sasuke and pulled out a kunai. He used it to cut Hidan’s throat who was still caught in Amaterasu’s illusion. Blood gushed from the wound.  
“That monster wasn’t lying about his immortality.” Said the rogue shinobi as the headless body kept on breathing.

The next day, Itachi took Sasuke to Konoha and sealed his memory. He gave Danzo intel about the Akatsuki and left with the threat of Konoha’s annihilation if Sasuke was to be hurt in any way.


	9. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi has to deal with the side effects of the kyoku drug while Sasuke reports to Naruto about his mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A thousand thanks to my brand new beta reader for all the edits she made and the time she took to correct this chapter!

A memory has to be processed to be integrated as an old event. That’s why the sealed memories seemed so fresh and vivid in Sasuke’s mind. He could almost feel Hidan’s sweaty hands lingering on his back and the taste of fear in his mouth. He felt sick to his stomach even if he could analyze the events with his grown-up mind.

“You could have warned me about Hidan.  
—He didn’t actually touch you.”  
Itachi’s voice was cold and rational.  
“An attempted rape is nothing to you, obviously.  
—I can seal the memory again. ”  
Sasuke gave Itachi a confused look.  
“You don’t sound like yourself.  
—I don’t know what you’re saying.  
—I… really don’t feel like arguing. I am tired and sick. I’ll be in my room.”  
The blind man nodded awkwardly.

***  
Itachi lay in the vivarium, on the floor. He felt so detached and cold. What a wonderful drug. He didn’t have to worry anymore about anything. At least, not until it wore off. He couldn’t have faced Sasuke with his whole heart. He was so used to numb the emotions. Easy escape, bad poison in his veins.

He sensed Orochimaru chakra. He was tired of the old man meddling with his personal business. He just wanted to be left alone.  
“I saw Sasuke. He was upset.  
—It’ll go away, ” Itachi’s tone was lackadaisical.  
Orochimaru hissed faintly, “The effect of the kyoku will wear off any minute now.”

Indeed. Itachi began to sweat and his skin lost its ghostly complexion. His blood that was cold, now seemed to boil in his veins as it flowed back to his heart like a furious wave. His breath was taken away.

Orochimaru sat next to him. “Well, well, well. It seems that we will be able to have a rational discussion now.”

The downside of the drug? Once it went off, all the emotions came back multiplied by a hundred.

Itachi rolled on his side, opposite to Orochimaru, choking on tears, his soul torn apart.  
A hand squeezed his shoulder, “The worst of it lasts only a few seconds.  
—I know!” his breath rasped in his throat with pain.  
“What happened with Sasuke?  
—Is… not… your… business...”  
Itachi’s face contorted. The washing out of the drug was breaking him.  
“I told you. This won’t end well. When you were dead he barely managed. But now… he’s going off track. You can’t be good for each other. There is too much pain between you.”  
The drug was completely out now. Usual emotions and sensations began to flood again in his heart. He mustered enough will to answer to Orochimaru.  
“We will overcome the pain.  
—What have you done already? I’ll tell you, nothing. Leave now. Sasuke deserves peace.  
—If you won’t have us here. We’ll leave. Together.”  
Orochimaru walked to face the glass behind which were the snakes of the vivarium. “What you do is only up to you.”

***  
Sasuke had to admit he understood why Itachi had sealed the memory. Had he remembered the whole story, he wouldn’t have been able to kill his brother.  
Every bad thing his sibling had done to him was a strategic move destined to guide him further on the path of Itachi’s own destruction.  
He thought he was over the past and the mistakes he and Itachi made. He wasn’t. It mattered to him that Itachi hadn’t been able to give him up after the slaughter. It also mattered that he had manipulated him like a puppet.

Sasuke looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked older than he should. He also saw a bit of Itachi in his features. They both had high cheek bones and the same hair that seemed tainted with the blackest ink.

He uncovered his aogan. The blue rings stared back at him. The clock was ticking. Two weeks had gone since he had left Konoha. He had forgotten to inform Naruto about his mission. He cursed under his breath. He’d go tonight and report to the hokage.  
Sasuke clad himself in his long traveling cloak. He opened the window and landed with agility on the floor below. The travel would take him a day. He could have sent a shadow clone but he needed a break. He traveled with the night, fast like the wind, quiet like the flight of an owl.

***  
Naruto was furious.  
“I sent out shinobi looking for you.” The crease between his eyebrows got deeper with each word. “I was worried sick. I thought you were dead and I was getting ready to tell Sakura and your daughter you had died in this mission, in another world. Did you think once about telling me you were fine? No! You could have sent a clone at least!”  
His cheeks were red with anger.  
“Shout all you want. I only escaped the alternate timeline today. But if you like to be unfair, just keep going on,” lied Sasuke.  
Naruto pointed a threatening finger in Sasuke’s chest, pushing to the point it became unpleasant.  
“You know Yamato reports once a month about Orochimaru. Do you know when his last meeting with me was? Yesterday, Sasuke! I was surprised when he told me he had seen you at Orochimaru’s place allegedly under my command.”  
From offended, Sasuke shifted to a more neutral attitude.  
“I don’t have to report to you every step I take. As a special jonin, I handle my mission the way I want.  
—Is it not enough to tell me – as a friend! – that you bloody survived a world with Kaguya in it?  
—Lots of things happened. I forgot.  
—You think you are alone but there are a lot of people who cares a great deal about you. Can’t you see it?  
—It didn’t seem like that after the war.  
—Not this discussion again.”  
Sasuke’s jaw tightened imperceptibly.  
“I know. You had to marry Hinata to forge an alliance with the Hyuga if you wanted to stand a chance as the Hokage. I understand that, I’m not blind nor stupid. I blame you for choosing Konoha over me.”  
When the last the sentence got past his lips Sasuke realized how childish it sounded.

Naruto thumped down on the armchair behind his desk, “I think I made a logical and reasonable decision but you wanted someone who would put you before everything else. Someone like Itachi.  
—Leave my brother out of this.  
—In the end, it’s always down to him, the way you think and you react.  
—He was the greatest hero Konoha has ever known.  
—He was a great man.”

The shinobi stared at each other defiantly. Naruto broke the contact and filled two cups with steaming tea. He pushed one in Sasuke’s direction.  
“Why did you go to Orochimaru?  
—Either I lie to you or I shut up.”  
Naruto sighed and sank in his armchair.  
“How much did you mess up in the other world?  
—I didn’t!  
—I only ask because the Otsutsuki clan have been spotted around the country asking for a man with one black eye and one blue rinnegan. You told me not to ask about your ‘aogan’ but if it brings trouble to Konoha then it is my duty, as the Hokage, to ask you.  
—I’ll handle the consequences.” Said Sasuke in a tight voice.  
“There has already been consequences, Sasuke. Two little villages burnt. There have been deaths.”  
The news made Sasuke blanch.  
“I am…” He rubbed his forehead and looked away. “I am… speechless. What I did, I did it for myself but in the end it also serves the greater good.  
—I want to believe you. I don’t really a choice, anyway.”

Sasuke left Konoha with a heavy heart. He bumped into Boruto on his way out.  
“Sasuke-sama ! Where are you going? I told all my friends about how cool you are. Will you train with me?”  
Sasuke tried to smile heartedly.   
“Another time. I’m in a hurry.  
—Oh” the little boy pouted with disappointment.  
“Will you do something for me?  
—Is it a mission?  
—Sort of.”  
Boruto stuck out his chest.  
“Can you give those flowers to Sarada? She’s my daughter. I thought I’d visit her but… other matters happened.”  
The kid blushed but accepted the handful of poppies that Sasuke had picked in the forest. “I’ll do my best sir.” The kid was about to leave when Sasuke stopped him.  
“And do tell your dad I’m sorry.”


	10. The Price to Pay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sasuke returns from Konoha, brotherly love gets a deeper meaning and a new menace arises.

Since Itachi was feeling stronger, he had his breakfast everyday in the dining room. That morning, he didn’t sense Sasuke’s warm chakra greeting him nor did he heard his sleepy voice calling him out. He had to be late but it wasn’t usual.

Itachi ate in silence as tension built up in his belly. Still no trace of Sasuke. He swallowed the rest of his food in no time and jumped on his feet, heading to his brother’s room.   
It wasn’t locked. The bed was cold and unmade, the window open. 

He came back with Orochimaru.  
“Did Sasuke leave a note?”  
Orochimaru shook his head.   
“He didn’t.  
—Keep on searching. He cannot leave without a trace.”

The Sennin rummaged through Sasuke’s belongings but he found no note or clues about where he went.   
“There’s nothing there.”

Itachi sat on a chair and rested his head in his hands. “He left because of me.   
—You don’t know if he left yet. All his belongings are there.”  
Itachi inspired deeply. His voice was firmer when he said, “I’ll wait for him until the sun set, if he isn’t there then, I’ll search for him.”

Itachi took shelter in the highest tower of Orochimaru’s place. He sat crossed legs and tried to focus far and wide in all the directions, looking for Sasuke’s chakra signature. 

The wind was strong and wrapped its cold hands around his body, messing with his long hair as it sent them flying, braiding and tangling the strands together. He trembled slightly but didn’t budged. The sun had reached its highest point and was now starting to decline. That’s when he felt it.  
A distant, barely perceptible sparkle of chakra. He had no doubt it was Sasuke. He ran down the steps and left the building. 

Itachi was running at full speed, jumping from a tree to another. He had reached a better understanding of how the flow of the natural chakra reflected every thing in the world and he didn’t trip once. 

He appeared before Sasuke, stopping him in his tracks.   
“Itachi! Why aren’t you with Orochimaru ?   
—I… thought you had run away from me.   
—No!” Sasuke reached for his brother’s arm, “I would never do that.”  
Itachi lowered his head.   
—You would have reasons. I am a terrible brother.”

The words sank in Sasuke’s chest. He wanted to get closer to Itachi. There was so much he felt but failed to express. He needed to touch his brother. He stepped forward. 

Itachi stayed still. His breathing was shallow. He sensed the heat radiating from Sasuke and his chakra enveloping him. A heartbeat later, his face got closer to his own. Not close enough.   
Not enough.

Their lips brushed against each other. The skin barely touched and it was more like sharing the same breath than kissing. The purity of the moment was broken when Sasuke slightly parted his lips.   
It was not enough. He wanted Itachi. Ached for him. He had always been the most important person in his life. The sun around which he revolved and that attracted him like a black hole.   
The bond they shared was etched in their blood: all the love and hate, the years consumed thinking about each other.   
It was more than words could express.   
Sasuke poured his heart in that kiss. His tongue shyly brushed against his own and a warmth spread in his loins.

Itachi was taken by the tide. He was used to fight his emotions with his will or with drugs if his will wasn’t strong enough but he couldn’t suppress the love he had for Sasuke. His reason had gone the moment his brother had deepened the kiss. His mouth, his tongue… He shouldn’t but he didn’t want to stop. Yet, it wasn’t enough. He put his hands on Sasuke’s cheeks and his fingers curled with need in his hair. He had never thought that his brother’s lips would be so warm. Never thought about Sasuke moaning in his mouth. Never thought about any of it. 

When they broke the kiss, both were flushed, panting and awkward. Itachi wiped his lips with a shaking hand.   
“We are insane.”  
Sasuke’s heart was beating so fast he barely heard the words. He only had enough breath left to whisper his brother’s name. 

The spell was broken when they heard a low pitched voice coming from behind their backs.   
“Sasuke, what… UGH! What in hell… ITACHI!” the man didn’t have the time to add another word. Itachi was already pressing a kunai against his Adam’s apple.   
Sasuke put an appeasing hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Release him. He’s Yamato, the shinobi Konoha assigned to watch Orochimaru.”  
Itachi put the weapon away and recited.   
“Code name, Yamato. Member of root. Wood style user. Generically engineered shinobi.”  
Yamato adopted a defensive stance.   
“And you look fresh for a dead man. Can you explain?”  
Sasuke didn’t let Itachi talk.   
“No, we can’t explain it’s confidential.   
—Is he under some kind of Edo Tensei no jutsu?  
—He is not reanimated. He is alive.”  
Yamato rubbed his chin and stared at Itachi.  
“I bet Naruto doesn’t know about that either.  
—He doesn’t.   
—Should I report to him or will you do it yourself?”

Sasuke shifted on his feet and stole a glance at Itachi. “I’ll send him a letter.  
—Is there anything more I - and by I, I mean Naruto - should be aware of?”

Sasuke tightened his cloak around him, “I don’t need you to infantalise me.   
—People only treat you accordingly to your attitude.”

Itachi stepped before Yamato, “Sasuke is not a child nor does he act like one. He is aware of the consequences of his actions. He is a full fledged jonin, perfectly capable to take decisions.   
—Everybody knows he’s not able to take reasonable decisions when it comes to you. I was in charge of team 7 for a while. Sasuke should have been part of it but he wasn’t because he was too caught in his man hunt to kill you. He betrayed the village without a second thought. So yes, I have reasons to be afraid. Am I right, Sasuke?”  
The leaf shinobi didn’t answer and stood stiffly before Yamato.  
“Let’s go, Itachi.”

***  
Sasuke wrote a letter to explain about Itachi and how he took him away from his original timeline. He attached the rolled parchment to the claw of an eagle with the instruction to only deliver the letter to Naruto. 

He covered his aogan with the palm of his hand. There was always a price to pay. For everything in life. Having Itachi was so good that the price would be terrible. He already knew part of it but he had a foreboding feeling that told him it would be a lot more than what he already expected. 

Itachi had barely talked to him after they met Yamato and it drove him insane. He wondered what it was about. The sealed memory. The kiss. What Yamato had said.   
His mind was racing and exhausting itself with theories. 

He drained the last drop of sake from his flask and threw it on a chair. He didn’t regret the choices he had made. No matter the consequences, no matter their laws and their judgements. He has been forged in blood and deception, in a way so unique he couldn’t follow their rules. 

Sasuke lost his balance and cursed as he slouched on the bed with his head pounding.

He brushed his lips. Itachi’s touch seemed to linger on his skin. He pressed his other hand against his crotch, rubbing the fabric with his fingertip and feeling a lazy arousal warming his belly. He removed his hand from his trousers. Tomorrow he’d confront Itachi. 

***  
The noise of an explosion banged in the night. Sasuke woke with a start and jumped on his feet. 

He felt like he sobered up on an adrenaline rush but he wasn’t as steady on his feet as should be. His first instinct was to run to Itachi’s bedroom.   
They found each other in the corridor, with a mirrored expression of relief.   
“What is happening?   
—I don’t know. I just heard the explosion.   
—Let’s go outside. We are too vulnerable in the building.”  
Sasuke acquiesced even though they both sensed the formidable chakra outside. 

“I want you to hide from the enemy.  
—Otouto, I have never hid and I won’t begin now.  
—You are bloody blind, so when I tell you to hide, you hide.”  
Itachi raised up his chin, a fierce expression on his face.   
“I am a shinobi, not a weakling.  
—Damn! No recklessness. That’s all I ask from you.”

The Boa Wing had been blown up. Orochimaru’s men were fighting a tall and sturdy man who had a white face and a single horn sticking out of the side of his head. He was swathed in ivory veils whose delicacy contrasted with the man’s rough appearance.   
“Kinshiki Otsutsuki…” Whispered Sasuke as he secured his hand on the hilt of his sword.  
“You know him?  
—I’m afraid I do.”   
Sasuke unsheathed his sword and rushed toward the so called Kinshiki.   
“Get away from him, you fools! He’ll kill you all.” He screamed in the direction of Orochimaru’s underlings.  
“SASUKE!” Roared Kinshiki, “Worthless little thief! I swear I’ll gouge out your eyes!”  
The man swung a glowing red halberd in his direction. Sasuke avoided the blade and activated his mangekyô sharingan. He stared at Kinshiki with his Amaterasu but the black fire only burnt a patch of grass. He dodged another furious attack from the giant man.   
Sasuke focused, this time he was sure he’d hit Kinshiki. Sparkles of Amaterasu lit in the air between them, not even close to his opponent. 

Sasuke winced, he only missed a little bit of clarity to make his jutsu work. Blame the sake.   
“You don’t look that fresh.” The laugh of the white faced man seemed to be loud enough to shake the walls of the building. 

Sasuke charged at him, dancing with his blade at a speed that only a few could follow. The weapons met with a loud clamor, sending red sparkles in the air every time they collided.   
Sasuke twirled above the head of Kinshiki with a lethal grace. His heavy opponent barely avoided the blade but his horn was chopped off.   
He touched the neat cut that Sasuke had made and spat, “I’ll cut one of your fingers for this.   
—You should be grateful it’s only your horn.”

Kinshiki’s red glowing halberd morphed into a katana.   
“I don’t have the habit to fight seriously with inferior beings.”  
The weapon flew in Sasuke’s direction like a lightening strike. He wanted to summon Susanoo but his inner chakra flow wasn’t channeled with enough accuracy. The violet armour was breached by Kinshiki. Sasuke raised his arm to parry with his sword but Itachi was faster. He appeared before him and deflected the blow with a kunai.   
“Get away from the fight!” Yelled Sasuke.

Itachi ignored his command and assaulted the giant man. Kinshiki’s red katana pierced through his flesh. A flock of crows spurted from the wound and blinded the white man, trying to rip pieces of skin with their claws. It was only a clone.   
The real Itachi was behind Kinshiki, blowing a giant fireball.   
The white man bellowed. With a swing of his sword he dissipated the birds and with his other hand he absorbed Itachi’s jutsu. The energy was transferred into his katana which burned with a fierce red light.  
He charged Itachi with a monstrous strength and speed.   
Sasuke leaped in front of Itachi, sustaining most of the damage. His sword shattered and he fell on his knees.   
Kinshiki was about to hit him with a fatal blow when the ground opened below his feet and a giant fanged maw swallowed him. Everything was black and he passed out.


	11. The Power in the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi and Sasuke are taken apart one more time.

Near Orochimaru’s place, there was a hideout in the forest. It could be used in cases of emergency to shelter up to five people.

When Sasuke woke up in the dark and damp basement, the first thing he did was to call his brother.   
Silence. There was no answer but Orochimaru stepped from the shadows.  
“Itachi is not there.   
—What…?”  
A glimpse of what had happened before he passed out flashed in his head. He found it difficult to register what Orochimaru said.   
“My snake saved you from that man but we barely escaped.”

The worst possible thing that could happen instantly came to Sasuke’s mind and he was convinced if the worst could have happened then it had happened because his relationship with Itachi had always been branded with the seal of disaster.   
Sasuke punched a wall and fell on his knees. His voice was toneless.   
“Is Itachi dead?”  
Orochimaru quickly replied.   
“He is still alive. That man holds him hostage.”  
Sasuke’s heart missed a beat and his muscles loosened. He took a second to enjoy the respite before he stood up.   
“I am going to get him.”  
Orochimaru grabbed his shoulder.   
“You’re not going in this state. That man gave you three days to decide.  
—One day or three days won’t change a thing. I’m going now. How long has it been since I passed out?   
—More than half a day but you’re not going to surrender Sasuke, are you?”   
Sasuke brushed the hilt of his sword. “I won’t fight Kinshiki. I can’t risk Itachi’s life and he is too powerful.  
—He is going to kill you.”  
A sharp laugh came from Sasuke’s throat. “He doesn’t want me dead. He wants the aogan.”

Before he left, the black haired shinobi turned back,  
“Where were you while we were fighting?  
—I was saving one of my experiments from the explosion.”  
Sasuke’s keen eye distinguished next to a wall, a tank as tall as a man, made of glass and filled with a bluish liquid that glowed weakly. A very pale child was floating in the amniotic blue fluid.   
“What is that?  
—I could answer like some Uchiha I know that it’s ‘none of your business’.”  
Sasuke shrugged, “The difference between you and me is that I’m genuinely not interested. So if you don’t want to tell, then be it. I don’t care.”  
Orochimaru looked at the infant with a soft expression, “I’ll tell you Sasuke — as I don’t like when there are secrets between us. That child is my son. Well, genetically at least. He’s not ready to be born yet but it won’t be long.  
—Does he have a name?   
—Mitsuki.  
—That’s a good name.”

***

Kinshiki’s overwhelming chakra was unmistakable. It burnt like the heart of a star and its cosmic strength was enough to inspire dread among the animals who had ran away from it, unlike Sasuke whose path was taking him closer with each step.   
The white faced man had established his camp in the courtyard of Orochimaru’s destroyed home. 

The heavily build man appeared as soon as he sensed Sasuke. “If that’s not our thief who got out of the hole he was hiding in.  
—I’ll give you what you want but release the hostage.”   
Kinshiki’s face remained still.   
“I don’t care enough about that inferior being to kill him.  
—I want to see him now or I’m not to surrender.   
—Even if you run I’ll find you.”  
Sasuke drew a kunai from his satchel and directed the pointed end at his own left eye.   
“You release him right now or I destroy the aogan.”  
Kinshiki watched Sasuke’s motions while waving signs. A clone popped in the air and went inside the building, coming back with Itachi. 

Sasuke trembled with barely contained rage when he saw how Kinshiki had ruined his brother’s face. A strand of his hair was stiff with died blood and a bruise circled his right eye. Despite his injuries, he didn’t walk like a defeated man,   
“Brother… Don’t surrender.”  
Sasuke smiled with a confidence he didn’t have. “I’ll be fine. He only wants the aogan.”  
Itachi planted his heels on the ground. “He’ll have to kill me before I let him hurt you in any way.”  
Sasuke saw Kinshiki in the corner of his eye lifting his weapon. He gestured him to stop and they exchanged a threatening look that Itachi couldn’t see.  
“You don’t have a choice.”  
Sasuke activated his sharingan and touched Itachi’s forehead. He kissed his cheek lightly.   
“You are weak to genjutsu, brother.”  
Itachi’s white eyes stared into the emptiness and he smiled. Sasuke had made sure he was having a good dream. 

Kinshiki hand fell on his shoulder and his grip was made of iron. Sasuke didn’t wince. He stared calmly at his opponent as he materialised glowing red chains made of chakra . “Where are you taking me?  
—Inside.”

***  
Sasuke had been on the Otsutsuki ‘s trail for months. He was always one step behind them, but he didn’t have a lot of intel apart from the fact that they weren’t from the same planet and that Kaguya was once part of their clan.

They travelled the emptiness of space through the same kind of portals Sasuke could create with his rinnegan. He had noticed Momoshiki, their leader, had a rinnegan in each palm of his hand.

After losing their trail a month ago, Sasuke had picked on it again. He went through a portal and landed on the flank of a mountain capped in snow and swept by a glacial wind. 

A castle wrapped in a cold white blanket was perched on a cliff, veiled by the falling snowflakes and unveiled by bursts of wind. The moonlight was caressing its shape, making the roof glitter like scales and deepening the shadows in the recesses the walls.   
There was nothing else around. Only a deserted and frozen land.   
Sasuke trudged through the snow to reach the castle where he felt Kinshiki Otsutsuki’s chakra. 

On a closer look, Sasuke realised the edifice had been carved in the stone of the cliff itself. It was smaller than he had imagined. The door was broken. Kinshiki had already been there. The framework was carved in the image of a wolf’s maw spiked with fangs, muzzle frowning and ears laid back.   
Sasuke stepped over the rubble. There was traces of a fight. Broken statues were laying on the ground while their empty pedestals stretched in a line.   
The shinobi didn’t stop. He was convinced they guarded something that the Otsutsuki wanted. 

The next room was ransacked as well. Unlike the hall with the broken statues, the air was dry and hot, the walls had been recently burnt and covered in soot. Water was splattered on the ground. A feminine being made of ice was lying on the floor, holding a wound on its belly that was gushing out water. It wasn’t dead yet and it extended its arm in Sasuke’s direction, speaking in a tongue he didn’t understand.   
A spike of ice formed in the air and fused towards him. He stepped aside to avoid it. The ice being didn’t have the strength to attack again. It stares into Sasuke’s eyes and vociferated in its strange language before it died melting into a crystal clear puddle.  
Sasuke realised then that each puddle was a body. 

Sasuke ran to the next room. He was late again. He wasn’t going to make it.  
Once more, Kinshiki had smashed his way through.  
The trail continued but this time below. A large crack in the ground gave access to a cave. A cold draught came from it, blowing snowflakes from underground. Sasuke jumped in hope that he would catch up to the man this time. 

He was in the entrails of the castle. The floor was covered in snow and stalactites descended from the ceiling like sharp fangs ready to shred him to pieces. A chill crept under his skin. He felt a primordial and ancient force inhabiting the cavern. The silence was deafening and his instincts were screaming that he should go back because this force was for no man to see.   
It took all his will to walk forward, one step at a time. 

A glow came from the back of the cave. The feeling of dread was becoming overwhelming, his hands trembled but he did not stop because he knew Kinshiki wouldn’t stop.   
That’s when he saw the heart of the castle, the thing guarded in the ice.   
It was a claw, almost transparent and as big as one of his finger. It rested in a nest of frost. Untouched.   
Kinshiki was there, kneeling in the snow with a vacant look.  
Sasuke wanted to get as far as he could from the thing but he was convinced he had to take it. Even if the white faced man had failed, others from his clan would follow him to get it. 

Sasuke extended his hand to touch the claw. It was sharper than a kunai and frozen. He grabbed the claw firmer. The Otsutsuki would never have the opportunity to use it, whatever it was. Sasuke had to find a place to hide it. 

The claw began to warm up in his hand. He opened his fingers, it was now red and glowing.   
It burned and Sasuke had to drop it.

Once the claw touched the ground, it quivered and a paw grew from it with four more claws. Sasuke stepped back and activated his sharingan.  
At that moment, he realised he had fallen into a genjutsu. He cursed. What kind of genjutsu could be better than his rinnegan? 

A furred leg came from the paw and soon, in the manner of a plant, a whole wolf had grown from it. It was as tall as Sasuke and covered in a thick white fur tinged with a light blue. It stretched, sending small crystals of ice around.  
Then, the Wolf curled its maw in a smile full of fangs.   
And it stared at Sasuke.   
Pallid blue eyes. Liquid ice. And in its center the black slit of the pupil that seemed to cut through Sasuke’s soul and dissect him. He wanted to move but he was petrified.   
The wolf was still looking at him and he heard a raucous voice in his head, half bark half speech.   
“Your. Soul. Like Mine. Broken. Not Whole.”  
Sasuke felt the Wolf’s mind intruding in his head. The further he went, the more clearly he could hear him.   
“Strange. For the power you didn’t come.”  
The Wolf sat with his bushy tail wound around him. He barked sharply and the jutsu that held Sasuke immobile broke.  
“Speak Sasuke of the Uchiha.”  
The shinobi stretched his numb limbs, keeping an eye on the Wolf.   
“I don’t want your power.”  
Their eyes met and he held the daunting gaze of the Creature.   
“I don’t want it but a bad man do. I followed him to prevent him from acquiring that power.”  
The whiskers of the Wolf trembled with amusement. Sasuke insisted, the creature didn’t seem to take the threat seriously.   
“Your guardians are powerless. They couldn’t even slow him.”  
A cavernous laugh echoed in Sasuke’s head so loud that his head hurt.  
“The Things? My guardians? RARARARARA Those are the empty shells of the countless beings who wanted to put their greedy hands on my power. They are no guardians. Those I judge unworthy I turn to stone if they are men and to ice if they are women. But they act like mindless dolls, hanging on to the belief I belong to them and chase the intruders.”  
Sasuke adopted a defensive stance.   
“I won’t let you turn me into stone.”  
The Wolf circled around him, gauging him, wagging his tail slowly as if pondering his decision.  
“You are not like them.”  
The Wolf sat in front of Sasuke. They were on eye level, staring. Obsidian eyes against diluted blue ice. Sasuke clenched his jaw and sucked in the cold air of the cavern. The Wolf put his big paw on Sasuke’s chest.   
“You are like me. You are not whole.”  
Sasuke didn’t break the eye contact.   
“I do miss a limb.  
—Idiot! You miss something far more important than a limb!” The sentence was close to a bark.   
Sasuke shook his head, “I don’t miss anything else.  
—Then, why does your soul looks like the collapsing heart of a supernova? Why do you cry at night?  
—I… I don’t cry!  
—What is the water in your eyes then? Melted snow?”  
Sasuke wiped his face and was surprised to find his cheeks so wet.  
“Say what you have to say. I’m not playing this game.”  
—You don’t seek my power but I am going to lend it to you. You don’t think you’re uncompleted but I’ll make you whole again.”  
Sasuke’s jaw clenched and his teeth grinded against each other. He knew why inside he was a wreck. And it wasn’t about a missing arm.   
The amount of raw chakra coming from the Wolf was overwhelming. He had to force the words out of his throat.   
“Because you think you can resurrect the dead maybe?”  
The paw pushed harder on his chest.  
“Little boy, you can’t even measure up the extend of my power. I read you like a book. I’ll find your brother. There are millions of intricate timelines. He has to be alive in one of them. Take my power and I promise you will be whole again.”  
Sasuke stared back fiercely into the wolf eyes.   
“You can bring back Itachi?  
—Are you slow to understand? That’s what I said!  
—What’s in it for you?   
—I want the same thing as you. I want to be free. I want to be whole.” His sentence died in a low, menacing growl.   
“I accept.”  
The Wolf smirked, uncovering white fangs.  
“I am Unike, The Solitary Storm, The Wandering Wolf, the Nitid Nova, Aerdl Aurea, Zumoc Zan Zaec, the Dismembered Deity. I extend my blessing on you, Sasuke of the Uchiha. When you’ll awaken from that dream, take my Claw and slit your Kaleidoscopic Eye. My power will inhabit it. You’ll have a year before your eye gets sealed.”  
Sasuke swallowed,   
“Does it mean I’ll lose my rinnegan?”  
The Wolf bowed his mighty white head.   
“The Kaleidoscopic Eye will be shut down but before one year, you’ll find your brother. Open portals, open hundreds of them! In a time and space, similar to yours but different, your brother lives. Sever the thread of fate and take him into your world.”

Unike the Wolf punched Sasuke in the heart. The genjutsu was shattered into millions of crystals of ice.   
He awoke to the real word. The cold of the cavern had bitten his extremities and his fingers were numb. His heart was pounding in his chest.   
Kinshiki was still kneeling, immobile as a statute. Sasuke picked up the Claw and directed it in his eye. He gulped but strengthened his grip. 

The pain was enough to make him scream. He put his hand on his face that was sticky with blood and tears. The pain faded quickly to leave only a throbbing sense of power in his left eye.  
The Claw in his hand had turned into dust and Kinshiki was able to shake off the genjutsu the Wolf had used on him. He looked back and forth between Sasuke and the place where the Claw was. His eyebrows were drawn together and his mouth twisted in anger.   
“You stole it! I am going to crush you like an insect!”  
In a split second Sasuke had waved the signs that triggered a great fireball.   
Katon.   
Kinshiki hoped backwards but the fire wasn’t aimed at him. The sudden warmth melted the ceiling of ice that collapsed on him. 

“Appropriate time to try this new power.” Said Sasuke as he created a portal that didn’t only part the fabric of space but teared the threads of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The flashback ends there! Back to the present in the next chapter!


	12. Backfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke finds himself in a difficult situation at the mercy of Kinshiki.

Kinshiki had invested what remained of Orochimaru’s lab. He had tied Sasuke to an autopsy table with chains that glowed with a red chakra.  
Sasuke heard him ruffling through Orochimaru’s instruments, making sinister noises with scissors and tweezers. His blood was boiling, he couldn’t let Kinshiki butcher his eye. He tried to struggle out of the chains but they only tightened. He clenched his teeth.   
At least, Itachi was safe, Orochimaru had promised to give him shelter. 

Kinshiki loomed over his face with a lancet in his hand, the metal gleamed coldly. Sasuke stiffened. He was done for.  
“There is no need to resist. If you struggle I’ll kill you. If you stand still I’ll let you live.  
—That power cannot be taken by force. It has to be granted.  
—We’ll see. Our technology is far more advanced than yours. Once we get it, we’ll squeeze the power out it. We’ve done it before.”  
Kinshiki’s big fingers spread Sasuke’s eyelids and he could see every detail of the man’s emotionless face.   
“Hold still.” 

From within himself, Sasuke heard a bestial voice. ‘Do something, idiot! Anything to buy us time.’ It was the first time Unike’s conscience communicated with him. 

Sasuke felt the power surging in his blue ringed eye. He knew what he could do. 

He opened a portal above Kinshiki’s head,a perfectly circular hole in the fabric of time and space, one leading to the bottom of an ocean!

Sasuke held his breath in anticipation. There was a second when everything was holding still before a wall of cold saline water poured from it.   
Kinshiki bellowed, he threw a furious look at the bound shinobi but soon he was choking, fighting not to lose his balance until he had water above his head. The ocean surging from the gate kicked the door opened and overflowed from the room taking Kinshiki along. Sasuke focused to enlarge the gate, water poured over his head as well, pounding like a hammer. Kinshiki drifted even further, down the corridor.   
Sasuke heard a vulpine laugh in his head. ‘He didn’t see that coming!’

The leaf shinobi struggled violently in his chains but they were tightening around him. He’d have to close the portal soon, he needed to breath, his lungs were burning. If only he could free his hand, he would wave signs.   
The glowing chains of chakra wound around his arm like a snake. It was impossible. Sasuke began to choke, he was losing consciousness, a dark veil descended before his eyes. Reluctantly, he closed the portal. The room emptied in seconds, water poured from the windows and through the door. He breathed deeply, filling his chest with air. He was already thinking about the next portal he could open to delay Kinshiki when someone furtively jumped by the window.   
Naruto.  
The blond man scratched his head.   
“I saw tons of water coming from that window… And you are very wet Sasuke.   
—Just bloody take the chains off!  
—Oh yes, you’re right!”  
One end of the chains stood like a metallic snake and attacked Naruto. He grabbed it with both hands and released his friend.

A soaked Kinshiki rushed into the room. He analysed the situation quickly and rose his hand in the air. The glowing red chains crawled at full speed towards him and morphed into a spear. 

“Is that the enemy?” Asked Naruto as Kinshiki charged them.  
“Do I really need to answer that? Better give it your all or it’s going to drag on.”  
Naruto look became serious and a glowing golden chakra enveloped him twisting, curving, and growing until it looked like Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox. Its maw stretched in a blood thirsty smirk with his long ears laid back. Naruto’s pupil morphed into a plus while his whiskers birthmarks enlarged and became black. The amount of raw power made the walls shake.   
“Saske, lend me your power!”  
The shinobi closed his eyes, when he opened them, the plates of Susanoo’s armour covered the body of Kurama like scales and a helmet protected his head. Two katana materialised into the fox’s paws to complete the symbiosis of their powers. 

Kinshiki gauged the complete form of the armored fox. His face didn’t betray his thoughts. He only switched his weapon for a great sword. He grasped it with both hands before he jumped forward. Kurama blocked the attack by crossing his katana. Kinshiki hoped back and waved signs. A dragon made of ice spurted in the air and attacked the fox.   
Kurama yelped and shattered the ice with a sway of one of his nine tails before charging with all his might.   
The clamor of the weapons choking echoed miles around. 

Itachi, finally woken from his brother’s genjutsu, was observing the battle or rather the repercussion it had on the chakra flow. It was difficult to read the fight. Each impact sent shock waves of chakra rippling in the three dimensions of space and disrupting the balance of energy.   
Itachi was holding his breath, the outcome of the battle had not been decided yet but it seemed that Kinshiki was gradually taking more blows than what he gave.   
As frustrating as it was, Itachi couldn’t help them. He’d be a burden. They were too fast, too strong. He’d end up putting Sasuke in danger again. He bit the inside of his cheek. 

Thankfully, Naruto was there. Itachi couldn’t help but notice how their chakra were melting together perfectly, how they made each other stronger and worked as a team. He wondered what kind of closeness it took for them to fight like one.   
He didn’t like watching Sasuke from the distance. He wanted to be part of his life. He wanted to live and he didn’t want to be the mastermind in the shadow, observing but never touching, loving but never being able to hold. 

The armored fox closed his maw around Kinshiki’s throat. The fight was over. The white faced man couldn’t win. The fangs sank deep in the flesh but instead of blood the body vanished in a cloud of smoke. A clone. Kinshiki had ran away. 

Itachi silently appeared before the two shinobi. He watched with relief as Sasuke and Naruto’s chakra separated, splitting further apart with each piece of armor removed from Kurama.   
“He escaped, ” stated Sasuke coldly.   
“We almost had him!” said Naruto as Kyubi’s chakra quickly withdrew from his body, “Ahhh, I feel rusty, Saske.”  
The blond man’s smile faded when he saw Itachi.   
“And here is the one man you’d risk everything to save.”  
Naruto slightly bowed his head to acknowledge the former rogue ninja and member of the Akatsuki.   
“I already know everything about the situation,” explained Naruto.   
Sasuke sheathed his sword, “So you received my letter but how did you know about Kinshiki?”  
Naruto slightly closed his eyes and scratched his head.   
“Orochimaru told me. He phoned, that’s faster than sending a letter anyway.  
—I don’t trust phones. I don’t know how it works,” argued Sasuke.  
“You didn’t even try to ask for help.” Naruto looked sideways, “well…. I’m supposed to be the hot-headed one!”  
Sasuke’s mouth twitched slightly. He was so worried about his brother, the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind.   
“I could have managed without you.  
—Sure.” Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed. 

Sasuke ignored his friend and stepped closer to his brother who had silently heard the whole conversation.   
“Did Kinshiki hurt you?”  
Itachi brushed his split lip mindlessly, “No, he didn’t.” He looked very serious, “Sasuke, I don’t want you to risk your life like that ever again.   
—I can’t…”  
Itachi interrupted him and squeezed his shoulder.   
“No. Sasuke. Never. Not under any circumstances.  
—I can’t promise you that.”   
Itachi’s white eyes reflected his sadness and it hurt like hell to say the words he had to say.   
“If I become your weakness, I’ll have to leave.  
—You can’t be serious.  
—I’ve always done everything I could to protect you.  
—You want to abandon me, ” accused Sasuke in a toneless voice. His lips quivered.   
“Everything but that. I don’t want to hear it! You like being miserable or you just fancy being a bloody tragic hero? ” Sasuke inspired deeply, “It doesn’t suit you!” His voice went off, became raspy and Itachi understood something.   
Sasuke’s worst fear.  
It was to be abandoned. Like he had abandoned him when he was a boy. Like he had abandoned him every time until the last goodbye. Until his death. 

The emotions in his chest were bubbling and burning but he couldn’t turn them into words so they remained stuck in his throat. He only said, “Alright, it’s alright. I don’t want to leave… And thank you for coming.”  
He gently pat Sasuke’s head, unsure about how to manage this grown up brother. Sasuke didn’t utter another word and he escaped his touch. 

Itachi sat in the wet grass, his chest felt too tight for his heart. Where was their relationship going? Sasuke didn’t want to be treated like a child. Damn, he was even older than Itachi now!   
There was also the kiss. Oh, he hadn’t meant for it to happen. It was wrong but he had enjoyed it. Worst, he wanted it again. 

Sasuke was talking to Naruto. From their movements, Itachi deduced they were really close friends. The fox kid was one of the few people Sasuke let into his personal space.   
The two men were arguing. Naruto was agitated and talking with a lot of hand gestures whereas Sasuke was standing still, speaking a few words in answer. 

“Come here, brother! We’re talking about you,” called Sasuke.   
Itachi sighed and stood up. A gust of wind blew his long hair in his face. He tucked the strands behind his ear while Sasuke stared. He guessed Kinshiki had messed up badly with his face.   
He adopted his cool and controlled voice, “What is the matter?  
—Naruto wants you to come back to the village. For your protection.   
—A lot of people could recognise me.  
—That’s why he wants you to be in a secured area and not leave from it. I call that incarceration, Naruto. I’d rather be a rogue shinobi again than letting Itachi be locked up in a secured area or whatever.” Sasuke crossed his arms and added, “I think you see us as a threat.”  
Naruto thrust his hands in his pockets, “Honestly, I have to think as the hokage, not as your friend. I don’t think you are a threat but I know if the Otsutsuki capture Itachi again, you’ll surrender and with you, your aogan. I don’t want that. It’s too risky. Itachi will be safer in Konoha.   
—I think Naruto is right,” said Itachi.   
Sasuke snorted and looked alternatively at his friend and his brother.   
“That’s your call, Itachi. I just don’t want your movements to be restrained.”  
Sasuke turned his attention towards Naruto. “Allow him to wander in town. He is good with disguise. If he dressed up as a woman, no-one would suspect him. I don’t want any secured area when I have a house in Konoha in which he could live. I’ll tell Sakura the truth. I also think Sarada is mature enough to understand the situation. I won’t take any other offer. Itachi has such a sense of sacrifice he’d agree to anything. I don’t.”  
Naruto nodded, “Deal.”


	13. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi meets Sasuke’s family and discovers the new Konohana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all the lovely people who keep reading this story. I can't tell you how much your comments motivate me! ✒️

Sakura’s whole life was built around a ‘what if’.   
The house was too big because ‘what if Sasuke came back’. Her bed was too wide because ‘what if Sasuke slept there’. The wardrobe had men’s clothing – all black – because ‘what if Sasuke came and he needed something to wear’. His favorite sake was in the cellar, his books in the library, his razor still kept in the bathroom. The only thing missing in the house was Sasuke.   
Many of Sakura’s co-workers at the hospital just assumed she was a single mom and maybe they weren’t wrong because that’s how she felt. 

That morning, just like any other morning, she set up two bowls of rice, the miso soup, and the grilled fish and waited for her daughter to tumble down the stairs with a sleepy head. She heard Sarada’s alarm clock rang for the second time followed by the noises of hasty footsteps. She chuckled to herself and shouted from downstairs,   
“It’s not that late, Sarada!”

At that moment someone knocked at the door. Strange. Chôji’s daughter came everyday to walk to school with Sarada but it was too early.   
A ‘what if’ came to her mind, a speck of hope that she extinguished quickly because in the end it was never Him. 

She opened the door. Her ‘what if’ was standing before her eyes. Sasuke. Twice in a few weeks, she hadn’t seen that much of him in two years.   
He was accompanied by Naruto and an individual wrapped in a travel cloak. His face was concealed in the shadows of a hood. 

She gestured them to come inside.   
“What’s happening here?”  
The masked man pushed back his hood. Sakura’s eyes went wide.   
“Itachi… how?”  
She caught Sasuke’s smile, it was directed towards his brother.   
“We’ll fill you in on everything later. To cut the long story short, he comes from a parallel universe in which Itachi didn’t die.”

Sakura lost her balance for a split second, “What?” but she quickly recovered a steady stance, “Explanations can wait. What is he here for?”  
Sasuke touched his wife’s arm and made eye contact.   
“He will stay in our house from now on. It’s too dangerous outside. However, nobody in the village should know he is alive.”  
Sakura blushed under Sasuke’s intense gaze.   
“Well... We have a guest room he can use.”  
Sasuke nodded briefly.   
“I’m going to stay too. At least for some time.”  
Sakura’s heart fluttered in her chest. Was it a blessing in disguise?  
“Itachi can stay as long as he pleases!” She added quickly. The former Akatsuki bowed his head respectfully.   
“Thank you for having me.”

Sasuke shifted on his feet and stared at the doorstep of the living room. “Come out Sarada,” called Sasuke who knew his daughter was hiding behind the wall.   
The girl poked her head in the entrance, looking unsure. Sasuke extended his arm to prompt her to step forward.   
“You heard everything, right?”  
She nodded. Her features hadn’t lost the softness of childhood yet but she had a very serious and grown up expression.   
“Yes, Papa.”  
Sasuke spoke in a reassuring voice.   
“This,” he showed Itachi, “must remain a secret.   
—I understand.”  
He smiled but his eyes were serious.   
“Very good.”  
Sarada straightened up her back and summed up the situation,  
“So uncle Itachi isn’t dead and he’ll live with us. ”  
Itachi stepped from behind Sasuke. His voice was low and grave but also warm.   
“Does it bother you that I am going to stay?   
—Of course not!  
—That’s good to hear.”  
Itachi turned his blind eyes on Sarada. He hesitated before asking,   
“Would you let me touch your face? I can’t see and I want to be able to picture my niece’s face.”  
Sarada smiled brightly.   
“Of course!”  
Itachi ran the tip of his fingers on her cheeks and forehead as Sarada commented,   
“My eyes are black and so are my hair. Mama always says they look like Papa’s hair.”

Sasuke watched the scene with a smile. He was relieved that everything went smoothly. 

***  
“I want to show you the village. A lot has changed in all those years. Technology is everywhere. Well, I won’t be of much help about that but you can always ask Sarada she knows how it works.”

Sasuke had found clothes Sakura didn’t use anymore for Itachi to wear.   
“I could also perform a transformation jutsu rather than dressing up as a woman.   
—You can’t maintain that kind of jutsu all your life and frankly, I prefer to see the real you rather than someone else’s face. Even in woman’s clothes, it will still be you.”  
Itachi’s leg twitched and he looked sideway.   
“People will see through it.   
—I don’t think so.” Sasuke stared at his brother in way that was almost rude.   
“Your face is delicate, your skin pale and soft. You are also slender. With the right clothes, no one will suspect it. I know kunoichi who are more masculine than you.”  
Itachi got up and turned his back on Sasuke, obviously uneasy with the matter.   
“It’ll be only when you go outside. Inside you can dress as you please,” added Sasuke. 

He picked a sea blue dress with no sleeve and handed it to his brother. “Is that one alright?”   
Itachi touched the fabric, trying to figure out its shape. “That’ll do. It’s only for a couple of hours anyway. What’s its colour?   
—Light blue.”  
Itachi took off his shirt and folded it neatly.   
“Thankfully, you’re not too hairy.” Sasuke’s touch lingered on his chest.   
His brother had narrow hips and a finely toned back. There was no doubt he was a man. He took off his hand when he realised he had embarrassed Itachi and sat on the bed instead.   
“You never told me how your Sasuke died.”  
Itachi stopped in his tracks before inhaling deeply, “Danzo killed him.”  
Sasuke scratched the stubble on his cheek, “I don’t understand. I killed Danzo. Why did I lost? There must be something else.”  
Itachi’s hand trembled slightly.   
“On your fifteenth birthday, Sarutobi told you the truth about the slaughter. The old man wasn’t at ease with his conscience obviously.”  
Sasuke interrupted him, “the third hokage died at Orochimaru’s hand when I was still a genin.  
—Well, in my timeline, he had survived and he told you the truth. You were out of your mind. You killed the elders of the village then planned to destroy Danzo’s Foundation.” Itachi stopped, it was painful to recall. “They outnumbered you. You hadn’t even awoken your mangekyô sharingan. In the end, Danzo killed you.”  
Sasuke stared at the ground thoughtfully.   
“Even after my sharingan had evolved, I barely made it out of this fight. The bastard had stolen so many eyes from our clansmen, he kept using Izanagi to revive himself.”  
Itachi nodded absently, trying to push away the thought of Sasuke’s dead body.   
He struggled in the dress, trying to find the right hole for his arm. Finally, he thought he had donned it in an adequate way. He fumbled with the hem to adjust it and tried moving. He’d have to be careful not to take too long strides. Trousers were a lot more practical.   
“Is it good? I wasn’t sure about how to button it.” Itachi looked away.   
“All fine.” Sasuke positioned himself behind his brother and untied his hair, “Even better now.”  
Itachi wished he could at least have a glance at the outfit.  
“Make sure that you have shown me everything you wanted in an hour.   
—I will.” 

***  
The sun and the wind felt good on his skin. He was grateful to be in Konoha with Sasuke. It was something he wouldn’t have dared dreaming of.   
With enough focus, he was able to read the natural chakra and get a hang of how things were. Sasuke was right, the village had been entirely rebuilt. If his brother hadn’t led the way, he would have been completely lost. 

Sasuke’s hand wrapped around his shoulder,   
“What about dango? You still like them, right?”  
Itachi was strangely moved that his brother remembered he had a sweet tooth.   
“Let’s buy some.”  
Sasuke came back with four sticks of coloured rice balls. They sat in a calm corner, close to the shinobi academy. Itachi gobbled the first dango and laid back against a wall.   
“That’s delicious.” He was already chewing his second dango while Sasuke sat still and quiet by his side.   
“You don’t like them?” Asked Itachi.   
Sasuke shook his head.   
“No, they’re fine.” He glanced at his brother and whispered,  
“I am sorry.”  
Itachi stopped eating. “What for?   
—The attack. Not only Kinshiki was after me but I was unable to stop him from hurting you.   
—Those things happen. We’re shinobi, not ordinary people. That’s to be expected.”  
Sasuke fiddled with the dango stick,   
“You don’t understand. I was drunk that night. If I had been sober, I would have been able to protect you.”  
Itachi swallowed the rest of his rice ball.  
“I’m listening, brother.  
—It wasn’t a one time thing.” Sasuke closed his fist and hunched his back. “It has been years that I do it. When I really feel like I’m losing it, I drink.”  
Itachi understood Sasuke more than he wished.   
“I don’t want to endanger you ever again and I think I can stop as long as you’re there.”  
Itachi’s hand stroke the back of his head and Sasuke leant against his shoulder.   
“I know you can do it and you can count on me.”  
Itachi promised to himself that he’d be as wise as Sasuke and never use kyoku again. 

The night descended over Konoha sheltering the brothers in her shadow. Itachi felt Sasuke’s breath against his ear, regular and soft. His hair tickling his shoulder.  
“If someone saw us, they’d think we’re a couple,” commented Itachi.  
Sasuke blew a sugary breath close to his jaw, “What if they thought we were?”  
A sense of vertigo downed on Itachi, what if? Would he mind?   
The sugary smell got stronger. Sasuke seemed to hesitate, his breath was close to the corner of Itachi’s mouth but he didn’t get closer. The seconds stretched, undecided and fragile moments out of time. Itachi didn’t move away. He didn’t inch closer either.   
His hesitation made Sasuke pull out.   
Itachi’s chest tightened and his heart was beating too fast. A sense of loss hit him harder than he had expected.   
“Let’s go back home,” suggested Sasuke.

The sun had set and they walked under the cold eye of the lampposts. Sasuke kept a distance from Itachi. The air between them was thick with unsaid words and Itachi could feel them weighing on his heart. He was the first to break the silence with a casual topic.   
“You have a beautiful family. Sarada looks so much like you.” He added, “I hope I won’t be a bother for your wife.”  
Sasuke only answered with a low snort so Itachi kept talking, “I am happy to see that you have founded a new home.”  
Sasuke suddenly stopped walking and stood in the middle of the street.  
“You don’t understand.”  
Itachi rose his eyebrows and his face reflected his confusion. Sasuke grabbed his arm and dragged him in a private corner.   
“You think I was happy? The perfect husband with the perfect family?”   
Sasuke’s eyes were hard when he added. “That marriage was forced upon me.” Sasuke inched closer to Itachi to the point he made him feel uneasy.  
“After the war, I was judged as a criminal. I had tried to destroy Konoha and the five kage, I had killed Danzo. They threw me in jail. A lot of people would have been happy if I had been executed. They wanted my eyes in a jar and my head on a spike.”  
Sasuke lowered his voice, “Naruto pleaded for me at Konoha’s assembly. He convinced Tsunade that I wasn’t a threat anymore and that I could even be useful to the village. Tsunade came to my prison. She would free me on her conditions that were never to be made public. She didn’t want the Uchihas to go extinct. She wanted me to father a child who would bear the Sharingan and fight for Konoha. As of the mother, she wanted it to be Sakura. She was her favorite disciple and Tsunade knew she was in love with me.”  
Itachi’s face darkened, “I never imagined… well, it shouldn’t be such a surprise to me. I am sorry Sasuke but… even in those circumstances you could have managed to find a balance in your life.”  
Sasuke reached for Itachi’s arm and said,   
“Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter and she has no idea there was such an arrangement about her birth. Sakura doesn’t know either.”  
Itachi kept a neutral stance. He would not pity Sasuke who had been treated relatively kindly considering the crimes he had done.   
“You said it yourself Sakura loves you. Is that such a cruel punishment?”   
Sasuke chuckled bitterly and uttered,  
“I know I sound like an horrible person but I could never give her the love she wanted because… because I only ever loved you. Maybe, there’s something wrong with my head but I could never forget you, I could never move on.” Sasuke’s tones gradually became helpless. “When I knew there was a way to get you back I did everything I could to find you. I couldn’t help it. You need to understand me. I can’t function without you.”  
Those words stabbed Itachi like a blade, sinking deeper and deeper inside him tearing his feelings apart until it reached his heart. He found himself unable to move for a second before his senses came back to him. He pulled Sasuke closer and hugged him. He didn’t even know what to say. Somewhere in his heart, he knew what kind of love Sasuke was talking about and it wasn’t all brotherly.   
He sunk deeper in the dark corner they were in and tightened his grip around Sasuke. He whispered,  
“I am sorry. I made you like this.”  
Sasuke pressed his cheek against his own, it was wet.   
Itachi waited for him to calm down and relax in his arms until his tears had dried up.

Sasuke stepped back uneasily and apologised, “I… am usually never like this, you know.”   
Itachi stared blindly at Sasuke’s chakra form and he felt the urge to reassure his brother. This time, he wasn’t undecided. He simply put his lips on Sasuke’s and gave him a very chaste kiss that tasted dango-sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what's difficult? That's never to forget Sasuke only has one arm and Itachi is blind. I can't tell you how many times I had to erase sentences such as "Sasuke crossed his arms" (aaarg of course not! He can't cross his arms!), "Itachi looked in the distance" (nay, he can't do that"), "Sasuke intertwined his fingers" (wrong again!) 😳


	14. Burn it to the ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke has to fix a mistake he did a long time ago.

Sarada was sitting on the stairs that descended into the garden. Her attention was directed at the shinobi sparring before her. She strained her eyes in an effort to keep up with the speed of their movements.  
Her father was waving signs so quickly that she was unable to read them. He was amazing.  
She stood up in wonder when she saw bolts of lighting were crackling in his palm.  
Chidori.

She had harassed all of her father’s friends with questions to know more about him. It was Kakashi who had told her about his affinity for the lightening element.  
Blue bolts of electricity danced in zigzag around Sasuke’s hand. The air was filled with a piercing sound and it did seemed like birds angrily shrieking. Sasuke ran towards his sparring partner who was none other than her uncle Itachi. The blind shinobi didn’t move and Sarada was about to tell him to get away when it turned out it was only a clone. Sasuke swiftly turned around to face the real Itachi who had appeared behind his back. He attacked him with his chidori but Itachi kept dodging. They were dancing around each other, with precise and dangerous movements, increasing their speed with each failed attempt to outsmart the other. At some point, Sarada only saw the occasional blue lightning of chidori sparkling in the air and a mess of arms, legs and jet black hair.

Suddenly and before she could understand how, it stopped. Sasuke had disarmed Itachi. A kunai was laying at their feet and Sasuke’s hand – no longer sparkling with lightening – was resting against the place where Itachi’s heart was.  
“I lost,” he admitted plainly.  
Sasuke lowered his hand and sat next to his daughter on the steps.  
“Yes, but I was impressed by how you managed to avoid my chidori.  
—Don’t use your chidori against a blind man, it’s easy to track because it’s noisy.  
—Guess I should have thought about it.”  
Sarada clapped, “That was amazing!”

Itachi accepted the bottle of cool water handed by Sasuke and took long sips from it.  
“And I can tell you he was holding back. He didn’t even have his sharingan.”  
Sasuke explained, “That’s what training is for, it’s not about showing off. Anyway the garden would be burnt to the ground if we were seriously fighting.”  
Itachi fixed his ponytail and turned towards his brother, “I haven’t made any progress.”  
He sensed natural chakra rippling anxiously around Sasuke. “You’ll get stronger.”

“Why are you all resting? I thought you were training!” Sakura’s voice was cheerful and enthusiastic. She rose her fist in the air,  
“Well, Sasuke let’s fight!”  
The black haired man dusted off the tightly fitting black trousers he used during training and leaped back in the centre of the garden.  
“Sure. That sounds a lot like team 7.”

Sakura adopted a defensive stance. Sasuke came to her bare handed but his sharingan was activated.  
“Too slow.” He commented when Sakura threw a row of shuriken in his direction.  
“You haven’t seen anything yet!”  
She screamed her battle cry. Shannaro!!  
And mustered all her strength in a powerful punch. Sasuke avoided it but it landed on a tree trunk instead. With a painful crack the tree fell and crushed a flowerbed.

“To think we did our best not to damage the garden,” commented Itachi with phlegm.  
Sarada burst out laughing. “Mama you really overdid it! Hahahaha!”  
Sasuke gestured them to calm down, “We’re not done yet.”  
Sakura picked a kunai and got ready to defend against Sasuke. She didn’t have the time to react. Faster than a shadow, he crept behind her and locked her neck with his elbow in a stranglehold. “Enough... you won.”

Sakura exchanged a strange glance with Sasuke then she looked at the disaster she had made in the garden, “I planted that tree on our wedding day. Do you remember?”  
Sasuke had already joined Itachi and Sarada on the stairs. He blinked and the sharingan in his eyes was gone.  
“Was it? Well, we can still make firewood from it.”  
Sakura jerked her face away,  
“Why do you say that?  
—The tree is destroyed. What should I say? ”  
A foreboding feeling clenched Sakura’s heart but when she turned around she forced a smile on her face. She did good because Sarada was beginning to be confused and anxious about her parents’ discussion. Her face relaxed when she saw her mother smile.  
“You didn’t use the sharingan against Itachi,” commented Sarada.  
“Well, technically, I always use my sharingan and if I was able to defeat Sakura so quickly it’s only because she’s been slacking off on training.”  
Sakura tucked a pink strand of hair behind her ear and retorted with a tight voice, “My schedule is already full. I have a job you know and I also want to spend time with our daughter… so yes, training hasn’t been on the top of my list for a long time.”  
Sasuke shrugged,  
“Naruto is the same. Drowned in paperwork and responsibilities. Be careful or you’ll both end up fat like Chôji.”  
Itachi put his hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, instantly stopping him.

Itachi’s voice was calm and deep, “Sakura chan, unfortunately there’s nothing we can do for the tree but maybe we could make a bonfire. Would you like that Sarada?”  
—That’d be great,” she paused, “Well, if Mama agrees.”  
Sakura nodded jerkily, “You should invite your friends then.”  
Itachi winked in Sarada’s direction.  
“That sounds like you’ll have fun. We’ll need to get everything ready for tonight.  
—You’ll stay with us, right?” said Sarada with hope.  
“I’ll have to stay in my room but I’ll be happy to know you’re having fun.”  
Sasuke stole Itachi’s bottle from his hand, calling for his attention, “It was your idea, don’t expect to hide in your room. Anyway, no shinobi of our generation knows you enough to recognise you.”

***  
Sasuke had seen more kids than he thought he could remember. At least, he was able to associate almost each aspiring shinobi with their parents. The scrawny pale kid was from Ino and Sai. The chubby girl glittering like a pink disco ball was the offspring of Chôji and a kunoichi from the Sand. The kid who was clutching his electronic game, looking like he couldn’t care less, was the spitting image of Shikamaru. There was several others he couldn’t identify, a girl with cat’s ears, a shy boy, a tall kid with a turban and finally the one that didn’t leave him alone, Boruto. 

Sasuke wasn’t satisfied with the turn of events. They should be training, not having tea parties! He shook his head, Itachi really had his way with him.

Boruto tugged at his sleeve.  
“Sasuke san, when are you going to put it on fire?” He pointed at the piled up wood.  
“How does that sound asked politely?  
—Pleeease!”

The little ones gathered in circle around the chopped wood. Sasuke waved signs and blew a thin stream of fire at the base of the bundled branches. A dark smoke arose and the wood became red and incandescent. A few twigs began to burn and the fire spread to larger branches, twisting in the breeze and growing as it eagerly devoured the tree Sakura had planted on her wedding day. 

The young ones cheered and played around the fire. Ino’s son was running in the garden with a burning stick and he was chasing after Shikamaru’s son. Boruto was throwing leaves in the bonfire and what seemed like a school manual. A boy Sasuke didn’t know was trying to cast a water type jutsu on the fire, without success so far.  
Kids were tiring.

***  
Long blond hair, a perpetual grin and a purple crop top. Ino looked like self confidence on high heels.  
“So you’re Itomi. Sakura told me you’re... what... oh yes a cousin of her.”  
She was talking to a slender and pale kunoichi who was no other than Itachi in hiding.  
“Honestly, I don’t believe you’re anyone’s cousin. That’s such a lame cover. And with Sasuke’s return that’s what I call suspicious. Don’t worry I won’t blow your cover, whoever you are, and pretend you are Itomi. Mind you, I bet that’s not even your name. But... let’s pretend.”

Itachi’s cheeks became very hot and he did his best to act naturally.  
“I am Sakura’s cousin as ‘lame’ as it sounds.”  
Ino rose a trimmed eyebrow and made a hand gesture that clearly meant she didn’t care. 

The blond kunoichi grinned widely and pointed at Sasuke,  
“Between us, tell me what you think of him?  
—He’s extremely powerful.  
—Yes, yes, obviously. Tell me something I don’t know! I mean, don’t you think he’s hot?”  
Itachi kept a straight face but he found himself sweating under his dress.  
“I think he’s very attractive...”  
She bent in Itachi’s direction and nudged him, “Awww, I know right ! And he has this intense cold stare.”  
Itachi didn’t like Sasuke’s coldness even though it seemed like something the ladies fancied.  
“He is not easy going though.”  
Ino looked at him annoyingly. “That’s part of his charm, you know. When we were kids, do you know how we called him?”  
Itachi shook his head.  
“The Ice King.”  
Itachi smiled sadly. His little brother was such a happy go lucky kid before. A sense of everything that had been lost and would never be recovered sank in his stomach.

***

Sasuke had taken shelter in the kitchen. At least some tranquillity. He was surprised no kid had killed himself yet. Young shinobi were more dangerous than bombs.

His trained senses caught the sound of someone getting in the room.  
“Itachi... Have you given up already on the kid’s party?  
—I’ll go back later. Have you?  
—Yes. It’s not my thing.”

Sasuke scanned the surroundings. There were only the two of them. He grabbed Itachi by the waist and pulled him closer.  
“Do you think we should stay in Konoha?”  
Itachi’s expression froze, “Do you think they have given up on getting the aogan?  
—No. They will come again. We’ll put the whole village in danger.  
—That’s what I thought.”  
Sasuke brought Itachi even closer, “That’s why you need to get stronger.”  
Itachi closed his eyes and covered them with his hand. “I know. I’m sorry, Sasuke”  
When he opened his eyes again, he looked determined, “But you also need to get stronger.”  
Sasuke gave a short but incredulous laugh.  
“Really? I don’t think I can get better.  
—It’s going to be a problem. You told me your rinnegan was slowly being sealed. Will you be able to use your sharingan by then?  
—I don’t know. Unike, the Wolf, never said. It’s not like we can be sure.”  
Itachi cupped his brother’s face in his hand, his disturbing white pupils fixed on him.  
“In the worst case scenario you could be blind. If that ever happens you’ll be weak as I am right now. No. Even weaker, because you miss an arm.”  
Sasuke tried to pulled out, his jaw clenched and unclenched, “It’s a choice I made a long time ago, not to get it fixed, unlike Naruto.”  
Itachi didn’t let go. “Well, maybe now is the time. You must go forward.”  
Sasuke looked away and mumbled, “I’ll think about it.” His missing arm wasn’t even something he thought about anymore but Itachi had a point. 

Sasuke caught a flash of pink hair in the corner of his eye. He leant against his brother and Itachi wrapped his arms around him before kissing his head. “Your hair are soft, brother.” Sasuke snuggled against Itachi’s strong chest hidden beneath the fabric of a lilac dress.  
The pink hair got away.

***  
Laying next to his wife. It should have felt like home but for Sasuke it felt like jail. Her arms were chains and her presence in his back made his legs itch to run away.  
He knew it wasn’t fair but he couldn’t help it. Maybe if she wasn’t his wife, they’d get along.  
He felt her hair tickling his shoulder and her small but round breast against his back.  
“You aren’t sleeping, Sasuke?  
—Not yet.”  
He felt her wriggling behind him as she leant against him.  
“Maybe, we could hmm... You know...”  
He knew what she meant and he had dodged the matter up until now.  
She felt his hesitation.  
“Sasuke, I feel like you don’t want me.”  
Why was her voice so frail? It made him feel sick to the stomach.  
“Am I not good enough for you?  
—Sakura... If there is a problem between us that’s me, not you.  
—I thought as much!”  
She punched his back and he felt clearly how she was trying to turn her incomprehension into anger.  
“Why do you have to be like that?  
—I’m sorry.”  
She turned around to face the opposite side of the bed. “Then, everything is said. Good night, Sasuke.” Her voice was cold and cut like a blade. 

***  
That night Sakura had the strangest dream. Strange in how real it felt and strange in its content as well. She was in a cave covered in ice, she shivered because of the cold and looked around her. The light was dim but she caught sight of a massive wolf covered in a white fur tinged with light blue. She reached for a kunai but she had none. It was a dream after all.  
The beast was breathing heavily and it looked at her with piercing blue eyes. She heard a voice in her head, unpleasant and gritty, barely human.  
“Sakura, at last. I have tried to contact you.”  
The kunoichi stood up fiercely and stared at the wolf, “What do you want?”  
The creature wagged its tail and got closer.  
“I am Unike. I lent Sasuke my power and I promised him I’d make him whole again.”  
The Wolf deity bared its fangs. “And you are in the way, little female.  
—What are you saying?  
—I shall be very clear. Back off. He is not yours. He belongs somewhere else.  
—He is my husband, you fat plush toy!  
—How dare you, puny little human?”  
Sakura turned her back on Unike and muttered to herself, “Well, I know it’s a dream. Why am I arguing with a giant wolf. I’ll tell Ino my dream I bet she has an explanation for it.” she scratched her head, completely ignoring Unike, “Well, a Wolf... Could that be a symbol of... sexual frustration?!”  
Unike growled with dissatisfaction.  
“Heed me, little girl, I am no joking matter. Leave Sasuke alone! He needs to be with the one he loves!”  
Sakura turned around and raised her fist at him, “All I hear is blah blah blah.”  
Unike’s ear were laid back and his eyes gleamed with anger, “I have never met a human rude like you! Take this in the real world and we’ll see if it’s just a dream!” said the Wolf as it scratched Sakura’s thigh with its claws.

She instantly woke up with a shooting pain. And she felt a liquid tricking on her leg. It was blood!  
“Sasuke!” she screamed.  
He woke up with a jolt, “What? Something wrong?”  
Sakura breathed deeply to calm herself,  
“I don’t know what happened but I dreamt of this wolf. It cut my thigh and when I woke up I was bleeding.”  
Sasuke threw the blankets aside and returned with bandages, “First, let me take care of that wound and explain everything to me because I didn’t understand a thing.”  
He cleaned the scratch. It was shallow, it would leave no scar.  
“I was in a cave and I saw a big wolf. It told me things like he gave you power or something.” Sasuke stopped in his track, listening.  
“It told me to get away from you... because I was not made for you. And I don’t know, it’s confused in my head. I didn’t want to listen to it so it hurt me.” She clenched her fist as she realised.  
“It hurt me to prove it wasn’t a normal dream.” She caught his hand, “Sasuke, do you understand what’s going on?  
—Someone has been meddling in with a matter that did not concern him.”

Unike was inside him so of course it would know everything about him but to think he’d go as far as to threaten Sakura in her dreams! Sasuke had planned to split up with her but he wanted to do it progressively.  
“I am sorry Sakura. I didn’t want to tell you about it like that. But now that it has come to this... I can’t lie anymore.”  
The kunoichi looked down on her husband and she grabbed the sheet in her fist.  
“Do you think we are happy?  
—What are you saying, Sasuke? Of course we are!”  
He took her hand and looked straight into her eyes with a disarming and scary honesty.  
“This is already difficult. Answer. Do I make you happy?”  
Suddenly her voice was shaking,  
“Of course, Sasuke! Because I love you. Aren’t you happy?”  
He squeezed her hand,  
“No. I am not.”  
She looked away but he saw a tear rolling down her face.  
She laughed humourlessly, “Stupid me... How could I even think you loved me when you did all you could never to come home. I mean, you even tried to kill me during the war. Was there a time you loved me?”  
Sasuke lowered his head, no lies he had said, no lies or he’d never get away.  
“I loved you like a friend.”  
He saw the slap coming but he did nothing to avoid it. It clacked on his cheek like a whiplash.  
“A friend? Are you kidding me?” She punched his chest. “Why? Why?”  
He let her discharged her anger and gritted his teeth.  
“You don’t want to know why.  
—Oh but I do Sasuke. I do! I deserve the truth”  
Her mouth was twisted in anger but her cheeks were damp.  
“Speak!”  
He had planned to let her realise that they had lost the spark, not to tell her the whole truth. That damn Wolf had pushed him in a corner. Sasuke wasn’t able to look Sakura in the eye.  
—When I was in jail, I was given a choice. I could either be execute or either father a child that would bear the sharingan and serve Konoha. That is why I had to marry you.”  
Sakura faltered and she had to hang on to a chair. Her silence seemed to crystallise around her. She was like an emotional bomb ready to explode. Sasuke couldn’t see her face, hidden behind her hair. He wanted to put his hand on her shoulder but she brushed it away.  
“Get away from me. I want to be alone.”

Sakura felt empty inside, she didn’t even realised when Sasuke left the room. After the initial shock, she began crying like she hadn’t in a long time. She cried until she hadn’t a single tear left in her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sakura really had it rough... Even though I don't like her, I felt for her. I wrote the final scene twice because I wasn't happy of how Sasuke came out of it. Sure he's a grey character but he should respect women. I only made him unpleasant to Sakura, not act like a bloody jerk!


	15. A Leap in The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In aftermath of Sasuke and Sakura’s break up, Itachi gets to know his niece and deepens his bond with his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is finally catching up to its rating!

Sarada was tying her shoes as fast as she could. She had a piece of bread in her mouth and she was still home even though it was already 8 am! Her mother hadn’t woken her up today, the breakfast wasn’t ready and that’s why she was late.  
Her uncle rushed toward her with her schoolbag in his hand, “Don’t forget that! You’ll need it!  
—Thank you!”  
Then, it was her father’s turn to dash from the kitchen with a box,  
“Itachi, you forgot her bento!”  
He shoved it in her hands and added, “Go, if you run you may be on time!”  
Sarada didn’t move right away and she clutched her bento box.  
“Is Mama alright?  
—She’s not feeling well but she’ll get better. Now, go!”  
Sasuke watched her run until she disappeared at the corner of the street. 

Itachi sat on the sofa and invited Sasuke to join him. He already knew about the events of the night.  
“You know what I find concerning is that Unike wanted you to split up with Sakura, going as far as to hurt her.... What’s in it for him?  
—I don’t know, I think he only wants to hold his part of the deal. He is... a force of nature, does things like marriage even make sense to him?  
—I guess not...”  
Sasuke grabbed a cushion and squeezed it against his chest.  
“I wish I could have announced it to her more progressively. I don’t even know how I’m going to say it to Sarada.  
—Do you want me to be with you when you tell her?  
—No, no, I have to deal with my own mess.”  
Sasuke craned his head back, staring at the ceiling. He felt lighter since he had said all the words he had been holding back for years.

Itachi stiffened, thinking about Sakura.  
“If you hadn’t brought me back, you’d still be with her.  
—Probably...”  
Sasuke let go off the cushion and grabbed his brother’s shoulder.  
“But don’t think too much about it. Honestly what concerns me at the moment are your eyes. I was thinking about how I died in your timeline...”  
Itachi’s lips became a thin line and his hands clutched his knees.  
“... You said you buried your Sasuke.”  
Itachi nodded stiffly.  
“I was thinking that you could use his eyes. Then your mangekyô sharingan would be complete. You would no longer be blind.”  
Itachi caught his arm and squeezed it.  
“Stop, brother. Stop. I don’t even want to think about it.  
—But it’s doable!  
—It’s not doable. Danzo killed you. What do you think he did with your eyes?”  
Sasuke fell back in the couch. The bastard. Of course he stole his eyes.  
Itachi’s voice became tensed when he let the rest of the story slip past his mouth.  
“When I learnt that he had killed you... I can’t even tell you how I was. I don’t really remember. I was mad and sick like rabbit dog. I went to Konoha and... I killed Danzo with my own hands. I thought I’d just end it there. I didn’t want to be in a world without you.”  
Itachi’s pale cheeks were flushed but his expression was unreadable.  
“Then, the war was there and I fought with the Alliance. Kaguya’s strength was overwhelming and... well, you know the rest.”  
Sasuke drew Itachi’s head against his chest and clutched against him this young big brother.  
“It’s over now.”  
Itachi’s fingers drew the outline of his lips.  
“Then you should smile.” 

This second chance life gave him, he wasn’t going to spoil it. The Otsutsuki wouldn’t spoil it either. There was always a way. He only had to think about it. 

***  
Sakura hadn’t come out of her room at all. Sasuke had knocked at the door to give her food. She had accepted without a word before slamming the door on his face.

That evening it was only Sarada, Itachi and him at the kitchen’s table for dinner.  
“Shino sensei taught us how to make clones!”  
Itachi picked a piece of fish from a plate with his chopsticks.  
“Were you doing good?”  
Sarada raised up her chin and answered,  
“Yes, I was the fastest to do it but that idiot Boruto produced more clones!  
—Clones are a Uzumaki thing, that’s not something you can fight.”  
Sarada chewed her salad thoughtfully.  
“What were you and Itachi like at school?”  
Sasuke held his chopsticks in the air and answered,  
“My brother was brilliant. Better than anyone else. He became a jonin when he was eleven.  
—Eleven!!” She was speechless.  
Itachi forced a small smile on his lips. No child should be trusted with that kind of responsibility. Sasuke didn’t seem to realise Itachi got there because of their father’s training and that it wasn’t a period he liked to remember. He swiftly changed the subject,  
“Do you want me to help you with the cloning jutsu after dinner?  
—Oh yes, please!”  
Sarada devoured the rice in her plate and took another serving. She was in full growth after all.  
“Papa and you really look a lot like each other.  
—It’s no wonder,” Sasuke glanced at Itachi, “because the Uchiha were all blood relatives. Marrying someone out of the clan was taboo. For example, your grandmother and grandfather were cousins.”  
Sarada looked surprised but no negative emotion showed on her face. She only asked,  
“Is it alright to marry your cousin?  
—I don’t see why it would be wrong. The story even said that Madara married his half sister.  
—I thought he was a bad guy.”  
Sasuke frowned and chewed pensively.  
“Well, that’s not the best example indeed. But their children had very powerful sharingan.”  
She nodded slowly and fetched a bit of salmon from her plate.  
“Does it mean my sharingan will be weak?  
—No, it means that you’ll have to work harder.”  
Sarada pouted and her feet hit the leg of the table.  
“I haven’t even awoken my sharingan!”  
Itachi interrupted her and he meant every word he said.  
“It is a curse more than a blessing.” The price was too high to pay. “If you don’t awaken it, I’ll be happy because it would mean you have a good life.”

***  
The garden was serving as a training ground once again. Sarada was making clones under Itachi’s supervision. She was a quick learner and was able to produce a clone every three attempts which was beyond good considering her age. She was definitely a Uchiha!

The current clone waved at Itachi before vanishing into thin air.  
“With the amount of chakra you have right now, I think you could create three clones.”  
Sarada nodded sharply and casted the jutsu another time. An only clone popped out of nowhere. She tried again and again. Her success rate was increasing but she never produced more than one copy of herself. The clones she made were becoming less convincing and the last one looked like it didn’t have any bone when it fell floppily on the ground.  
“You did very good. Now, it’s time to stop.”  
Sarada was sweating and out of breath but she shook her head.  
“I can still go on. Come on, I’m not good enough!  
—We’ll train tomorrow. If you keep on draining your chakra you’ll feel nauseous and your whole body will ache.”  
Itachi knew the symptoms too well. His own father had never cared about it and he had always driven him to his limit. A lot of his early training sessions had ended with him throwing up and being unable to move. If he was lucky, his father would carry him home on his shoulder. If he wasn’t, he had to wait until he could move again to crawl home. That wasn’t the kind of training he wanted for his niece.

Sarada ignored him and initiated the sign combination of the cloning jutsu. Itachi grabbed her wrist and stopped her.  
“I said enough.”  
Sarada stiffened and pulled out from Itachi’s grip.  
“You don’t understand. I’m not good enough!  
—Maybe not today but tomorrow you will. If not tomorrow, then the day after.”  
His words didn’t seem to connect at all. Itachi waited until Sarada spoke again.  
“If I’m not strong enough, Papa won’t be interested in me.”  
Itachi blinked slowly, he wasn’t sure he understood.  
“You could be the weaker shinobi of your generation and it wouldn’t make any difference to Sasuke. You are his only child and he loves you.”  
Sarada turned away even if her uncle was blind and couldn’t see her face. She strained her voice, afraid she would sound weak.  
“Why won’t he come home more often then?”  
Itachi tilted his head back. What could he say to that?  
“Sasuke... He didn’t have the best childhood. Those kind of things... you can never completely recover from it. You know when he was your age, he was all alone. No mom. No dad. I wasn’t there either.  
—Oh...” Sarada looked down, “I didn’t know that.”  
She moved the dirt around with the tip of her foot, thinking.  
“Does it mean he can’t even send a letter from time to time? Just to tell he is okay.”  
Itachi hid his surprise behind a blank expression. A letter was not much to ask for. It annoyed him.

Itachi stepped away from Sarada and without a word he cut his palm with a kunai before pressing his hand to the ground.  
“Kuchiyose no jutsu”  
A circular seal formed and expanded in the patch of grass he had touched. A crow emerged from the seal and perched on his shoulder. The black bird croaked and gently nipped his ear.  
“This is Kuro. He’s one of the animal I can summon. I’ll lend him to you so you will always be able to join Sasuke and me. No matter where we are.”  
Sarada’s eyes had widened and her black irises gleamed.  
“Is it really alright?  
—Of course.  
—He’s so tiny. Can he travel that far?”  
The bird’s feathers rose and he spread his jet back wings contemptuously before he spoke.  
“I am no mere raven! I am a nin-bird! Trained to get letters back and forth for miles, undetected, elegant and efficient! Never doubt my skills again, rude little girl!”  
Itachi petted the raven on his head,  
“Don’t get all flustered, Kuro.”  
Sarada smiled at her uncle and apologised.  
“Extend your arm, young one!” said the bossy bird who hoped along her arm to rest on her shoulder.  
“I think that’s all for today,” concluded Itachi. 

***  
Sakura had gotten out of her room to bid Sarada good night, ignoring completely the two Uchiha brothers. Then, she was gone. No word was exchanged. Her gaze met briefly Sasuke’s eyes, long enough for him to see she was mad at him and didn’t want to show her sadness.

Sasuke had piled up blankets on the couch. It was still better than some beds he had slept in. When Itachi realised what he was doing he interrupted him.  
“My bed is big enough for two. There’s no need to sleep on the couch.”  
Itachi’s face remained blank and unreadable. Sasuke nodded but he felt uneasy. He was drawn to his brother in a way he found no perfect words to describe. Brotherly love, admiration, possessiveness, attraction. He wanted to get close to him but he didn’t know how far he wanted to go.

Itachi’s bed was large enough for them to sleep on each side without touching but they snuggled together in the centre. Itachi slept in long pyjamas and a woollen jumper. He was the type of person who was always cold in bed. In the other hand, Sasuke only had underwear because he was always too hot.

It still felt strange to be with Itachi. He had spent his whole life chasing him, running from their home, running from the village, running from his mentor. Running until he had nowhere to go back, no friends, no loyalty. Running until his feet bleed but never catching Itachi.  
Now that he had found him, he wanted to touch him, to hold him, to make him his so he never had to run again.

“I have found a way for your eyes.”  
Itachi shifted next to him and their legs brushed.  
“What is it?  
—I don’t want to tell you until I’m sure I can do it. I’ll have to ask for Naruto’s permission.”  
The sheets of the bed rustled when Itachi rolled on his side to face him.  
“Thank you, Sasuke.” And he kissed his forehead.  
“You seem really close to Naruto. I... When I saw you two fight together, I notice you have quite a... Fusional way of fighting.  
—Hmm, well I suppose you could say so. That’s the only way we found to seal away Kaguya. I was Indra’s reincarnate and Naruto was Ashura’s reincarnate. I guess that’s why our powers mingle so well.  
—Those two were brothers, right?  
—Yes.”  
Itachi cupped Sasuke’s face in his hands and his voice was almost sour.  
“He is not your brother. I am.”  
A shiver went through Sasuke and he felt electric.  
“I love you,” said Itachi.  
And it was true. This love was taking its root so deep within his core that it was a part of him just like the color of his skin. 

The tension between them heightened and became palpable. They were on the edge of a precipice, gazing into the unknown. All it would take was a leap in the dark.

Sasuke wanted so badly to jump. 

He closed the gape between their bodies until their legs intertwined and his naked chest rested against his brother’s jumper. In the dark, they were both blind but their skin was hot in all the places they connected with each other. 

Itachi’s smell had never been so close and intoxicating. It made Sasuke’s loin burn with the desire to get closer until he could smell his brother on his own skin. 

Itachi was also lost in the feeling of his little brother’s body. His hand was carded in his hair that he was grabbing possessively.

Their mouths inched closer very slowly, following a primal pace that made them ache with desire. They shared the same breath and their lips connected. Brushing, touching then exploring. Slowly, very slowly they melted into each other, blending their chakra together with each feverish kiss. Itachi’s tongue found Sasuke’s mouth, making him moan for more. 

Sasuke’s loins were pulsating with liquid desire that had spread to his crotch. He was hardening and buckled against Itachi who was just as aroused as he was.  
He broke the kiss and topped Itachi, straddling his hips where he felt his hard on poking his bum. Itachi’s hand gently stroke his cheek and his voice was regretful when he said,  
“We should stop now.”

Itachi was so overwhelm he knew he could keep this on until he gave his body what he wanted but he needed time to think about it with a clear head. Going any further would change their relationship for ever. 

Sasuke seemed to understand because he moved away and rose from the bed, adding in a dispassionate voice that he needed to go to the bathroom.  
Itachi was left alone in the bed, trying to cool down his arousal with a calm respiration and meditation. After ten minutes of doing so it was still bulging inside his pants. He decided to ignore it and sleep but his mind wouldn’t stay blank and the memory of Sasuke’s willing body haunted his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wonder, that thing about Madara is made up... Sure he has no sister but a half sister? Maybe!


	16. The Legacy of the Uchiha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke works on a secret project while Itachi meets someone who knows a lot about his brother.

As the sun grew in strength with the spring so did Itachi. His wounds had completely healed and were now fading into scars. His nights were haunted in turn by memories of the slaughter and visions of Sasuke. The temptation to give into drugs had been strong but he hadn’t surrendered to the need. 

Those days had also been hard for Sasuke. He and Sarada had had a long and painful talk. There had been tears and Sarada was only beginning to smile again. 

That afternoon, Itachi was alone at home. His niece was at the shinobi academy, Sakura was back working at the hospital and Sasuke was also out, working on a project he had kept secret even to his brother.

As usual, Itachi sat in the garden and meditated. When his mind was blank, his senses heightened and he could perceive the world accurately through the chakra variations surrounding him.

In. Out. Each breath was taking Itachi further. Soon he was able to perceive every blade of grass moving in the wind, every insect buzzing on the ground. Then his perception of the world spread even further like oil in water. The birds in the sky, every human being in the street. More. More. More.   
He was able to sense the whole neighbourhood.

In. Out. Further. His mind prodded miles around. He sensed Sarada in the academy. Nothing was hidden from his blind eyes. He also knew where Sasuke was. The place was crowded with hundreds of other humans. Sakura was not far from him either. The General Hospital of Konoha. Research department. 

In. Out. The amount of information was almost too much for his brain but he pushed the limit even further until he could feel the whole of Konoha. Amazing. It was beautiful and overwhelming.

His state of full awareness was broken when someone jumped over the fence of the garden. Without opening his eyes, he said,  
“Good afternoon, Kakashi san.”   
The shinobi walked up to him.   
“So you really are back, Itachi. Not that I didn’t believe Naruto, but I needed to see it with my own eyes.”  
Itachi unfolded his legs and stood up and bowed his head.   
“I have to apologise about the times we fought when I was in the Akatsuki.”  
Kakashi waved his hand to dismiss his apology,   
“It’s in the past.”  
Itachi invited him inside.   
“Is there something you came for?”  
Kakashi fetched a letter from the front pocket of his jacket. It was closed with a read seal bearing the arms of the Hokage’s department.   
“Will you give this to Sasuke? That’s the convocation he asked for.”  
Itachi grabbed the letter and put it on the kitchen table.  
“I would never have thought you were the postman of the hokage.”  
Kakashi grinned under his mask and said,  
“Well, I was curious. It’s not everyday you see someone from another world.”  
Itachi pushed a faint smile on his lips and spread his arms,  
“And what is your conclusion?  
—You seem real enough to me.”  
Kakashi sat in a chair, stretching his long legs. He stared at Itachi in silence for a few seconds, lingering on his disturbing white eyes.   
“Do you know that your name has never been cleared officially?”  
Itachi shook his head. The thought had crossed his mind but he hadn’t dwelled on it.  
“Sasuke wanted to restore your honour and you had a posthumous trial. The judge agreed to erase your name from the missing nin but the Elders of Konoha were never sued.” Kakashi closed his first, “That’s such a shame. At first, they didn’t even want to burry you in the village.”  
Itachi’s eyebrow twitched and he cleared his throat,  
“I don’t care. I am officially dead and I mean it to stay that way.  
—Really? You want to hide? All your life?  
—I don’t care as long as I’m with Sasuke.”  
Kakashi fiddled with a ring that was on his finger, looking down.   
“Well, if you change your mind, I could help you. I was the Hokage and I still have some power.  
—You were the Hokage before Naruto?  
—For a few years. I never wanted the job but... It just happened.”  
Itachi put the kettle on the fire and fetched two cups in the cupboard. He had missed eleven years of history.  
“I can see why they choose you.  
—Oh really? Honestly, I’m better off without responsibilities.  
—And that’s why you were good.”  
Kakashi slid his finger around the lid of his cup.  
“I think people who made sacrifices to get there are better. Like Naruto.  
—He was quite legitimate for the job. He saved the shinobi world.”  
Kakashi bent to get closer to Itachi.  
“I think he deserved to be the Hokage but he had this thing with Sasuke. The higher-ups didn’t like it.”  
Itachi’s hand jerked and he almost spilled the tea,  
“What thing ?”  
He clutched the handle of the kettle. What was he thinking? Of course being friend with Sasuke was enough to endanger Naruto’s political position in the village.  
“I know the boys. They were both my students, so I didn’t miss that Naruto ... loved Sasuke. You don’t run after someone like he did if you are just friends. But it was one sided. Well, at least before the war. But after... Your brother was in pieces. Around that time, he got closer to Naruto.”  
Itachi put the kettle on the table with a thump, thinking back about how Kurama and Susanoo were complementary.  
“What happened?” Itachi tried to erase the tension in his voice.  
“Well, I think they were more or less together but due to political pressures Naruto married in the Hyuga clan. Sasuke had a trial for treason and murder. He was acquitted but things were never the same with Naruto. He married Sakura after the trial.  
—They wouldn’t let Naruto become Hokage after everything he did just because he was with Sasuke?  
—They wanted to set an example. Sasuke or another man, it would have been the same. But yes, Sasuke was even a worst choice. Lots of lives had been lost in the war and they wanted to promote traditional families with at least two kids. I know because they gave me hell about it.”  
Itachi wasn’t surprised. He knew Kakashi was not attracted to women since they had been in the anbu together.  
The former Hokage lifted his cup of tea and showed the ring on his finger, eyes gleaming with mischief.   
“I quitted. Now, I can be with whoever I want.”  
Itachi nodded in approval. His serious face cracked with a smile.  
“Do I know him?  
—You don’t. He’s the director of the shinobi Academy, Umino Iruka.  
—I’ve heard of him. Congratulations.”

Kakashi lowered his mask and sipped his tea.  
“How are you doing with your eyes?”  
Itachi was a good listener but he didn’t like to talk about himself. There had been too many years of his life when giving up even the smallest piece of information could put his life danger. Old habits died hard. The muscles in his back tightened but his voice was controlled.   
“I handle it. Training is the key.”  
Kakashi looked straight into his eyes and said,   
“I am not blind but I also lost the sharingan. If someone can understand you, that’s me.”  
Itachi nodded shortly, not willing to go further down that road.

At that moment, the door hinged open. Itachi turned around and Kakashi emitted a barely audible gasp even though it was only Sasuke.   
“You’re early,” said Itachi.  
Without a word, Sasuke got closer and put his hands on Itachi’s shoulders. Both his hands.  
Itachi’s heart missed a beat. He stood up in surprise.  
“Sasuke, your arm!”  
Itachi grabbed his left hand. It was covered in bandages but it was a real, warm hand with chakra flowing through it. He rolled his thumb in the hollow of his palm and a soft feeling rose in his chest.

Kakashi moved closer as well.  
“You finally got it fixed.   
—Indeed. The doctors grew the arm from Hashirama cells. Same as Naruto.” He opened and closed his fist. “I can control it just fine.”  
Sasuke noticed the two cups of tea and said,  
“I see you already know about Itachi.  
—Naruto told me. By the way, I got this letter for you.”  
Sasuke grabbed the envelop and tore it open.  
“Finally, that’s the convocation I asked for.”  
Kakashi leant against his chair.   
“Is Naruto mad at you? I mean, you shouldn’t have to ask for an audience to talk to him.”  
Sasuke winced and glanced at Itachi.  
“He is upset he doesn’t know everything I do.”  
Kakashi followed his gaze, lingering on Itachi.   
“I see. He’ll get over it. He should understand you. We all have someone we’d do anything to bring back.”  
The silence after Kakashi’s declaration was heavy. Sasuke felt a pang of guilt in his stomach that he quickly erased. Everyone had lost family and friends but did they need them as much as he needed Itachi? Did they felt dead as he had felt dead? He knew what he had with his brother was different.  
“Anyway, I am happy for you.” Kakashi’s eyes softened. Sasuke realised his former teacher was the only person who had accepted Itachi’s existence with a smile and he was grateful for it. 

Kakashi left them after an embarrassing hug and the brothers were alone in the house. Itachi couldn’t keep his hands from Sasuke’s new arm.  
“How does it feel?  
—Quite natural.”  
Itachi processed to unwrap the bandages beginning by the fingers. The skin was smooth and hairless but warm.  
“Do you feel it ?  
—Yes.”  
Itachi kissed his fingers one by one and he was sure Sasuke felt it because he stiffened.

Itachi found it hard to find logical reasons for his behaviour. Each time he was with Sasuke he lost his mind a little bit more to sink in that ocean of madness. 

Itachi knelt and embraced his brother’s waist. Sasuke ran his fingers through his hair.  
“I thought you didn’t want... That.  
—I don’t know what I want Sasuke. I am lost with you. I don’t know anymore. Is there something for us if we take that step?”  
Sasuke knelt to face his brother. His head was hung low and a blush had coloured his cheeks.  
“I don’t know if I can bear it to add this other sin to all the things I’ve already done. There are days I can barely live with myself.”  
Sasuke brushed his face with his index.   
He had always wanted Itachi to save him but he had never realised Itachi also needed to be saved.  
“We will carry this together...”  
Itachi let Sasuke envelop him in his warmth. He was loved and protected. He was not alone anymore.

***  
When Naruto thought about his life, he remembered that day team 7 was formed and the three of them had shared their dreams for the future. He had accomplished them all. He was the Hokage. He had met both his parents. Later, he had brought Sasuke back.

Sasuke had also reached his goal and killed the man he had promised to kill but only after realising he had been wrong the whole time. Naruto knew more than anyone how much Sasuke had suffered. He should be happy for him that he brought back Itachi but he wasn’t.   
Naruto felt as if he couldn’t keep Sasuke tied to Konoha anymore because his loyalty was not to the village. It was to Itachi.

He kept glancing at his watch. Sasuke was always punctual. He would be there in ten minutes. Naruto checked his appearance in the reflection of the window. He combed his short hair backwards and adjusted his shirt. Why did he still care after all these years?  
He leant back in the large armchair, fingers intertwined, waiting for the knock that would announce the arrival of a dangerous and unpredictable shinobi.

Three brief raps at the door and it swung open before Naruto could even answer. Sasuke’s presence filled the whole room with an aura of confidence and determination.   
The hokage instantly noticed his prosthetic arm and he knew he was right to be afraid because it marked the end of an area. To anyone’s eyes, it would mean little but to Naruto’s eyes it had a deeper meaning. His friend had allowed himself to let the past behind. 

Sasuke jerked his ink black hair away and sat in the chair opposite to Naruto with all the might of a Uchiha. When he stared into his eyes he saw his unbreakable will and if his right eye was black as coal, it would only need a sparkle to take on fire. The docile jônin was gone and a new man was born.  
“I have a request.” He started before Naruto invited him to.  
“Hm, yes ?”  
He leant forward, serious.   
“You know my brother is blind.”  
Naruto nodded, his inside twisting at the mention of Itachi.  
“I know there is a way to cure him. After the war, I thought nothing was left of Madara but someone recently told me his eyes had been taken by the shinobi of Konoha.”  
Naruto’s jaw clenched. It was too late to deny it.   
“You want Madara’s eyes for your brother.  
—Yes.  
—I can’t.”

Sasuke’s expression hardened.   
“Why? You know that’s the only way, he’s going to use the sharingan ever again.  
—Sasuke, listen. I can’t just give you Madara’s eyes. The Elders and even the Feudal Lord must be informed.  
—Then, inform them. I don’t care.   
—Do you think they’d be happy to know Itachi is back?   
—Like you didn’t made a report yet. What’s the problem?”  
Naruto gathered documents on his desk to delay his answer but Sasuke insisted. “Tell me or I’ll never consider you a friend again.”  
The Hokage didn’t doubt Sasuke’s words were true. His blood turned to ice.  
“The higher authorities have judged you unstable.  
—Aren’t you the bloody higher authorities, Naruto?  
—But you are unstable!” He fetched a paper from a drawer of his desk.  
“That’s a divorce application from Sakura!”  
Sasuke crossed his arms. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know this marriage was a fake.  
—But it was the deal that got you out of jail. You can’t break it like it’s nothing. After everything you’ve done in a few months, you can’t just come at me and seriously ask me to give you Madara’s eyes.  
—It’s for my brother. My brother! The old you would have understood, but you’ve become a puppet of the power.” Sasuke sprung from his a chair, grabbing the edge of Naruto’s desk and leaning forward. “Tell me where the eyes are and I’ll get them. You don’t need to get involved, just tell me.”  
The two shinobi stared at each other in silence. Naruto saw Sasuke drift further away with each passing second. He gritted his teeth.  
“No. That’s a no. You two would be too overpowered.  
—Overpowered? Itachi sacrificed his life for the village!”  
Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his collar. His blue iris was tinged with the amber of Kyubi’s chakra as the anger rose in his chest.   
“Look, Sasuke you are being watched. I know what is the nature of your relationship and that’s sick.”  
Naruto instantly regretted his words but it was too late to take them back. Sasuke bared his teeth and did not faltered nor deny,   
“How were you watching? I know no shinobi was tailing us.   
—It doesn’t matter how. I’m not giving Madara’s eyes to Itachi.”

For a second, Sasuke thought about putting Naruto under a genjutsu but it would not help. He turned his back on his friend and said in a cutting voice,  
“Then, be it, Naruto, but I’ll find a way to give back Itachi what he lost. Everything.”

***  
The door of the Hokage’s office slammed shut. Boruto who was eavesdropping on his father startled. Sasuke went past him with such a furious expression that the air seemed to shiver around him. Boruto mustered up his courage and ran after him.  
“Sasuke san! Wait! Wait, I can help you.”  
The man stopped abruptly and turned around to face the boy. His aogan was uncovered and Boruto thought he was as scary as he was cool.   
“Speak now, don’t waste my time.” He said in a dry voice.  
Boruto’s mouth stretched in an impish smile.  
“I know where the eyes are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was Orochimaru who told Sasuke about Madara's eyes, many chapters ago.


	17. Sasuke's Nindô

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke does something crazy for Itachi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nindô is the equivalent of "way of ninja". I favoured the Japanese word as in the anime, Naruto is always talking about his nindô and it conveys more meaning than just "way of ninja".

A row of kunai rested on the table, metal shimmering under the light of the lamp and blades dulled with use. Itachi was picking one after another to sharpen them. The song of the steel sliding on the whetstone helped him focus.

Sasuke still hadn’t come back from his appointment with Naruto. Itachi realised it didn’t mean anything good. He told himself he would accept any decision from the Hokage. A yes or a no.   
He’d accept it. 

A noose of anxiety closed around his throat. Even if he didn’t have the Sharingan anymore, he wished he could see again. He tested the edge of the kunai and drew a drop of blood from his finger. He cursed at his carelessness and wrapped it in a bandage. As he put the kunai in his satchel, he repeated it again in his head. No matter the decision. He would accept it.

Outside, the rain began falling. He wasn’t surprised, the air had been heavy the whole afternoon, sticky and unpleasant like a bad feeling. He glanced at the window, the sun was hidden and the sky was brewing a storm. He counted his kunai. Twenty sharp blades eager for a fight.

The door swung open at once, letting Sasuke in. Itachi sprung up from his chair.   
“What happened?”  
His brother’s lips thinned and he knew the answer before Sasuke even said it.  
“The Hokage refuses.”  
Itachi’s shoulders hunched for a second before he straightened his back again.  
“Then, that’s it. End of the line.  
—It’s only the end of the line when you give up.”  
Itachi was surprised by Sasuke’s tone, instead of defeated he sounded resolute. He felt in his guts that he was up to something.  
“Sasuke, I accept Naruto’s decision. Don’t dwell on it too much.  
—It’s a bad decision for bad reasons.  
—You probably asked him something impossible.”  
Sasuke paused, closing the door behind him and he said in a low voice.  
“I asked for Madara’s eyes.  
—It’s no wonder he said no.”  
Sasuke’s voice became rushed and urgent.   
“It should go back to an Uchiha. Konoha took everything from you. The village owes you that least.  
—You’re thinking backwards. I’ll manage to fight without eyes.”

Sasuke didn’t want to argue with Itachi but he felt anger burning in his chest.  
“That’s exactly because of that obedience that you ended up killing everyone in our clan! You’re not a dog, they had no right to ask you what they asked you. I’d kill Danzo a hundred times for it if I could.”  
Itachi’s face became a mask of ice.  
“There were very high stakes at the time. If you can’t realize why I made this sacrifice for, you should think again.”  
Sasuke’s muscles stiffened, a tiny part of him wanted to snap back but he fought it. He was mad at Naruto, not Itachi. He clenched his fist and said,  
“I shouldn’t have said that. I understand what the circumstances were but I don’t know how you can stay rational about it.”  
The ice in Itachi’s expression broke and for a second his milky eyes looked tormented. His little brother had no idea of the years of numbing pills that had been necessary to think about it coldly. 

“If I couldn’t be rational about it I’d be already dead.”  
Sasuke hated the meaning of those words with all his soul.   
“You are not alone anymore. Whatever comes your way, it comes my way and I’ll never let you down.”  
If Itachi couldn’t see the fire in Sasuke’s eyes, he felt it in his voice. He reached for his brother’s face and stroked his cheek.  
“I know.”

***  
Itachi couldn’t sleep. The whole evening Sasuke had been odd. It was only little things. An anxiety that slipped past his carefully controlled movements, a cold determination in his voice when he talked to Itachi, the way he had filled his satchel with kunai and shuriken when he thought no one was watching.   
Itachi had the feeling that his brother was up to something. That’s why his arms were around Sasuke, clutched tightly around his belly and restraining him as much as sheltering him. Sasuke would not go anywhere tonight. 

He was breathing calmly and he was asleep already. Knowing his brother, it should have taken him more time. He hadn’t even protested about the sleeping position that locked him on the bed with not even the possibility to turn around. Itachi wasn’t suspicious by nature but he had learnt to be wary.

He synchronised his respiration with his brother. In and out. Careful not to fall asleep himself but, on the contrary to expand his awareness of the world. The flow of the natural chakra was whispering its secrets right to his brain. First his consciousness reached the limit of the house. He knew he was right to suspect something. The satchel full of weapons wasn’t there anymore. Anxiously, he expanded his senses further, searching for Sasuke’s chakra signature.

There it was. In the belly of the Hokage’s quarters, deep underground. Itachi had been tricked, he was sleeping with a clone!

He threw the blanket away, the clone protested with a yelp. It grabbed his wrist.  
“What has gotten into you?”  
Itachi didn’t even answer, he drew his knee into the clone’s belly with enough strength for it to disappear in a puff of fog. He didn’t have time to lose. He put on the first clothes he found, yanked the window open and jumped in the garden. Despite the rush he was in, he was silently gliding into the night of Konoha. He jumped from building to building. The wind was hissing in his ears and the rain soaked his shirt. He slid wet fingers inside his pocket and grabbed a kunai. He felt sick to his stomach thinking that he may have to use it on Sasuke or on a shinobi from Konoha.

When he reached the Hokage’s building, instead of coming at him the guards stood still. They were under a genjutsu. At least Sasuke hadn’t spilled any blood. Yet.

Following the flow of chakra coming from his brother, he entered the building. The shinobi were all under the influence of the sharingan. He sank deeper into the building. Down and down flights of stairs. The air became cold and moist, filled with a mushy smell.

When he reached the bottom, he found a corridor that he followed until he met with Sasuke. His brother wasn’t alone and he was surprised to sense Boruto’s chakra as well.   
“Sasuke, what are you doing?”

The shinobi who had been a missing nin for years and who was also his brother turned around. Surprise flashed in his eyes before he regained his composure.   
“I am fixing a mistake Naruto made.”  
He exposed a jar at the bottom of which two eyes were rolling in a transparent liquid. Itachi rushed by Sasuke’s side and grabbed his shoulders with a bruising strength.  
“That’s crazy. Do you realise we won’t be able to stay in Konoha anymore. We will be missing nin again.”  
Sasuke shrugged. “That’s a little price to pay.  
—And why is this child with you?”  
Boruto crossed his arms and planted his eyes into Itachi’s blind ones.   
“I have a deal with Sasuke san. I told him where to find the eyes and he promised to train me. On the road.  
—And you betrayed your dad for that?”

Itachi covered his face with his palm and laughed ; nervously, loudly, uncontrollably. Was he doomed to run away from the village? Finally, he was able to breathe again.   
“Why didn’t you inform me before you did something like that?  
—You wouldn’t have agreed.”

At that moment they were attacked by shinobi from the village. Shuriken flew in the air and someone yelled.   
“That’s Itachi ! ”  
Confusion spread among the men.  
“Itachi? but he’s dead!”  
That moment of hesitation was enough for Sasuke. He uncovered his aogan, staring at the crowd with a power that made them all fall under his power. Their limbs became limp like those of ragdolls and their eyes vacant. 

Itachi could only see two choices before him. Fight Sasuke or help Sasuke. He bit the side of his tongue. Deep down, he had no hesitation. There was one thing he couldn’t put up with and it was to be separated from his brother. His decision was made.   
He didn’t resist when Sasuke grabbed his hand to lead him in the stairs. He only whispered,   
“We’ll to talk about this later."  
They rushed up with Boruto in their trail.   
“We should get out as quickly as possible to limit the risk of a bloodshed,” stated Sasuke, “no one escaped my genjutsu so we should be able to leave peacefully.  
—Leave Konoha and then what?  
—Then we find Orochimaru so he can implant you Madara’s rinnegan,” He explained patiently.  
“And?  
—I thought about Amegakure. It is still politically unstable, no one will care about two refugees.”  
Boruto tugged at Sasuke’s sleeve, stopping him and staring into his powerful eyes without fear.   
“Two?! Why two? We have a deal, right. I helped you with the eyes so you have to take me on the road with you.” His piercing blue eyes said he would consider Sasuke an unworthy adult if he broke his promise.   
Sasuke held his gaze and Itachi knew he was about to put the kid under his genjutsu. He held back his brother’s arm to command him to stop and crouched to face Boruto.   
“If you follow us you will be an outcast. You will never become a shinobi of Konoha, you will never be the hokage...   
—I don’t want to be the hokage!” interrupted Boruto, “I just want people to stop seeing me through my father. I am not him! Not better, not worse than him, just me!  
—You will spoil your life if you do it only for your father.  
—I do it for me. Because I want to follow Sasuke san and I want to see new things. This village is just too small.”

Sasuke sighed heavily and rose his eyebrows.   
“Fine but don’t forget you only come because my brother seems like he approves of it. If you slow us down or if you are a danger to yourself – or to us – I won’t keep you.”  
Boruto nodded sharply and clenched his fist around a kunai. Itachi grabbed his wrist and said no with his head.   
“You are not to fight against your own. You follow us closely and we’ll avoid fighting.”

Sasuke hadn’t waited and he was already a few steps ahead. They caught up to him and Itachi said,   
“I will go back to your house.  
—There is nothing you really need there.   
—There is one thing I need and it’s to tell your daughter what’s happening.”  
Sasuke didn’t speak, he only nodded. Of course she deserved to know. Itachi was right and he was a terrible dad. 

When they emerged from the building, they faced a row of shinobi. Someone shouted an order but before they could even cast a jutsu Sasuke subjugated them with his sharingan. All at once they lowered their weapons and stood limply in the pouring rain.   
“Damn, we’ve been discovered already,” cursed Sasuke. He had hoped they would have more time. 

The scene had a bitter taste to Itachi, it reminded him of that red night he had fled Konoha with a torn heart and bloody hands. However, the circumstances were different. This time he was with his brother instead of Obito and no blood had been spilled yet. 

Itachi attracted Sasuke to him and whispered in his ear.   
“I go tell Sarada what is happening then we met at the front door. I’ll be quick and don’t forget, no bloodbath.   
—I don’t want it any more than you do. I’ll buy time until you join us.”  
Itachi squeezed his brother’s shoulder and escaped into the night. 

Sasuke checked the inside of his pocket. The eyes were there, safely kept in the jar. They rolled grotesquely at the bottom, rinnegan spinning.   
Sasuke gestured Boruto to follow him closely. The boy nodded in understanding and they disappeared in a dark alley. Both were wrapped in black cloaks with their heads hung low. They threaded carefully, with wary and silent steps. They navigated from a patch of shadow to another, avoiding the light as much as they could even if it meant taking a longer path. 

From another street, Sasuke saw the giant screen hanging on the wall of a building had turned solid red. Then, Naruto appeared on the screen. The scene had been shot inside his office and he looked like he had just woken up.   
“We have a situation. Konoha’s defences had been broken. I demand all the civilians to go back home and all the shinobi to get ready to fight. I have the regret to say we have been betrayed by one of our most valuable shinobi, my right hand man, Uchiha Sasuke. If you see him don’t try to stop him but report to a shinobi. Do not panic, the situation is under control.”  
Naruto’s image became still and after a pause he said with his eyes planted on the camera.  
“Sasuke, I will find you and I will stop you again.” His jaw was set and his expression ferocious like that of a wild fox but before the camera cut, Sasuke saw him blink and he would have bet his eyes were wet. 

Boruto had also heard the speech of his father and he seemed shaken. Sasuke touched his shoulder and with a neutral voice he said.   
“It’s not too late for you. You can still go back.”  
Boruto shook his head.   
“No, no I made my decision. Do you think it’s a bad decision?”  
Sasuke knew they didn’t have the time for that but he wanted to take it because the boy’s life would never be the same if he decided to follow him.   
“I don’t know... Does it make you happy?   
—I’m bloody scared but I will regret it if I don’t try. I know dad won’t understand and he’ll be upset. Mom too. And Himawari.”  
Boruto’s voice was tight and Sasuke felt annoyingly sorry for him. The boy looked up into Sasuke’s mismatched and strange eyes.   
“But I think dad was wrong and I know you’re a good guy.”  
Sasuke looked away.   
“I am not a good guy. If you’re looking for someone like that, there’s Itachi.  
—I know you are. Because you really love your brother and... I love my lil sis but I’m not sure I could do what you did.”  
Sasuke only hoped Boruto wouldn’t take lessons in what brotherly love is from him or Naruto would skin him alive on top of everything else.   
“If you’re sure. Follow me.”

When Sasuke spotted Naruto he was not surprised because it was bound to happen. That had always been their fate to fight each other. 

Naruto was already coated in the Kyubi’s chakra, glowing yellow and with the pupils of his eyes morphed into a plus. Sasuke rose an eyebrow. So he was also in sage mode and had planned to give everything to stop him. 

The good new was that they were already at the entrance of the village. The minute Itachi would arrive Sasuke would open a portal. All he had to do was to buy them time.

A rush of adrenaline went through his blood and Sasuke’s eyes gleamed with raw fire. Time to go all out!


	18. The Wolf Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which two friends have to fight and Sasuke states he's not opening a kindergarten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for 100 kudos! I never thought I'd get the quarter of it and it means a lot!   
> This story wouldn't have come that far without all of you, leaving comments and kudos, reading chapter after chapter and motivating me every day to write.

Boruto’s bedroom was clean. Neat in a way it had never been before. There wasn’t even a toy forgotten on the ground or an open book on the desk. The bed was made and a fat pillow was bulging underneath the blankets. Some of the pictures hung in the room were missing and had left squares of a fairer colour on the wall. The desk had been ordered and there was nothing on it except for three letters. One was addressed ‘to Mom’, one ‘to Hima’ and the last and longer one ‘to Dad’.  
The bedroom wasn’t only clean, it felt like an empty shell. The little boy that had lived there had left and he would never sleep in his bed again or write on that same desk. 

***  
Naruto chakra cloak was gleaming like a lighthouse in the rainy night. His brows were drawn together and his lips pinched. With his cape floating in the wind, he gave out an aura of power and authority. Boruto had never seen him like that. 

As soon as he spotted Sasuke, Naruto screamed his name like a threat. Sasuke didn’t answer and deployed silently the upper half of susanô. The street wasn’t large enough for it full form.  
“Hide and stay away from the fight, Boruto.” Commented Sasuke. 

In the corner of his eyes, the shinobi saw the boy taking shelter in the branches of a tree. The attention of all was focuses on Sasuke and no one had noticed Boruto.  
He brushed away the hair hiding his rinnegan but he didn’t even try to use genjutsu, Naruto was immune to it. 

One second before, the night was only disturbed by the sound of the rain pouring, the second after it was filled with explosions and screams. This fight wasn’t against Naruto like in the old days, it was the hokage and his jonin against Sasuke.  
He recognised them all. Most of them were his age. They had sat on the same benches at school, they had trained together and had fought the same war but they weren’t friends. 

Sasuke let all of them attack him at once. Shino’s insects, Shikamaru’s shadows, Chôji’s giant first, Sai’s inked tigers, various elemental jutsu, all rushed at him in a roar of chakra. He let them attack to make them realise on thing.  
The gape between their powers.  
The dark armour of chakra surrounding Sasuke absorbed the shock with ease. The ground around him cracked, and collapsed. The only space left untouched was inside Susanô. 

Naruto who hadn’t moved yet, raised his arm in the air and lowered it slowly as he commanded his men.  
“Stop attacking.”  
The Hokage strode in Sasuke’s direction.  
“Why are you doing this? Konoha is your home.”  
Inside Susanô, the shinobi didn’t lower his guard. The talk-no-jutsu had never worked on him.  
“We can still settle this peacefully. Surrender. You don’t want to hurt your comrades.”  
The chakra around Naruto thinned, inciting Sasuke to remove his own defences as well.  
“I won’t spill any blood. I just want to follow my own rules. You talk about peace, but I see Shikamaru and I know the second I’ll lower my guard, he’ll be ready to paralyse me.”  
Naruto gestured his friend to call back his shadows.  
“Is that better?  
—Yes.”  
To show his good will, Sasuke reduced Susanô to a simple ribcage surrounding him. His voice was clear and strong.  
“Let us leave without a fight that will be painful for everyone.”  
Naruto got closer to his old friend and nodded sadly.  
“Give me what you took and I’ll let you leave.”

A voice roared inside Sasuke’s head. It was Unike’s consciousness within him.  
‘No way! Don’t give up the eyes.’  
Sasuke whispered to himself, “Shut up, I won’t give it up.”  
Naruto gave him an odd look.  
“What is it?  
—Nothing. I refuse your offer.”

Everything happened very quickly. Sasuke had been talking to a clone. The real Naruto was behind him, ready for this turn of event and fully powered up. A rasengan broke a rib of his susanô, nearly hitting him. He hoped back and infused a large quantity of chakra in his aogan.  
“Shinra Tensei.”  
A repulsive shock wave radiated from him, sending Naruto away. The hokage managed to land on his feet and instantly charged at Sasuke with ten clones wrapped in the demon fox chakra and bearing the red marks of the sage mode around the eyes. They surrounded him and pulverised his weakened susanô with as many rasengan. In terms of raw power, Naruto was a monster. Sasuke winced when the sharp blades of wind element slashed through his skin. Before he was seriously injured, he switched place with a lamppost that was a few meter ahead. The metal was torn into little bits and the glass shattered. 

Sasuke was pushed into a corner. If he used the flames of Amaterasu, he could win but he refused to. He couldn’t be sure no one would be harmed.  
He gritted his teeth and summoned Susanô again, he only had to buy time and withstand Naruto’s attacks. He’d be a living Fortress and focus on defence. The dark armour surrounding him was absorbing all the damages. He hoped Itachi would come back before he lacked of chakra, maintaining susanô was draining his reserves.  
Unike’s ability and consciousness had come without extra chakra but the aogan cost more to maintain than his rinnegan. 

Sasuke sat crossed leg while attacks came from everywhere. Naruto was relentlessly forming rasengan and crashing them on susanô. The whole fight looked probably ridiculous.  
“What are you waiting for, Sasuke?” asked one of the clone. The ink haired shinobi only answered with a sneer. He thought what he was missing was quite obvious. The answer seemed to hit Naruto as well.  
“Where’s Itachi?”  
Sasuke crossed his arms, and looked away.

Lost in the fog of explosions, flames, water, steam and dust, Sasuke hadn’t noticed Hinata was among the shinobi. The veins around her eyes were swollen and she had activated her byakugan. She was analysing susanô weaknesses and pointing at them in turn. The original Naruto was standing besides her and listening carefully. He nodded and created seven clones.  
Each clone had a powerful rasengan swirling inside his palm. They hit susanô simultaneously in seven precise points. The purple chakra protecting Sasuke was shattered. Before he could escape, one of Shikamaru’s shadows touched him. His body was under control. Only his eyes were not paralysed.  
If he allowed himself an offensive move like Amaterasu, he could get away but once again he refused to. 

‘Let me help.’ Said the low and guttural voice of Unike in his head. ‘You don’t use my power to its fullest. Never. It’s like you are... Afraid. Pitiful! I’ll show you what it means to be the master of dimensions.’  
In the space of less than a second Sasuke went from irritation to acceptation.  
‘Promise you won’t hurt them.  
—Aye. I have more tricks up my sleeve than there’re flees in a dog’s fur.’  
With resignation, Sasuke opened a door inside his mind and let the Wolf in. 

The red pattern of the mangekyô sharingan in his right eye turned light blue while the aogan in his other eye gleamed. Under Unike inner guidance, he opened a portal above him. On the other side, a star was burning, a beam of powerful light went through the gate and broke the bond of shadow between Shikamaru and him. He could move freely again! 

There would be no point making a new susanô but Unike had another trick to offer. He helped Sasuke create a spherical portal, it was around and above him, isolating him from all the attacks.  
‘That’s an unbreakable defence.’ Purred the Wolf with satisfaction.  
‘It consumes a lot of chakra.’ Thought Sasuke.  
‘Why are you always so grumpy, little man? At least it can’t be broken!’

The Wolf was right, an incredulous rumour ran among the shinobi of Konoha. The place where Sasuke used to stand had been replaced by a perfectly spherical piece of prairie bathed in sunlight when it was the middle of the night in the village.  
Sai drew birds of ink and animated them. They flew through the sphere, unharmed. It was a real prairie. With real grass and real sunlight but Sasuke was unreachable, surrounded by the portal itself. 

Naruto rubbed his eyes as if he could dispel the vision but it was still there. That bubble cut out from another world was utterly out of place. The strange setting gave to this otherwise normal prairie an eerie beauty. He smelled the odour of fresh grass and dry air. A butterfly flapped its wings lazily and crossed the invisible barrier between the two worlds. A raindrop crashed on its frail body, weighing it down. 

Hinata was analysing the strange phenomenon with her byakugan. Sasuke was where the sphere was, but at the same time he wasn’t, he was hidden on the underside of the sphere.

***  
When Itachi reached the rendezvous point, the situation hadn’t changed. The jonin and Naruto’s clones were surrounding the unexpected and sunny prairie. To Itachi’s blind eyes the situation was even more difficult to grasp but as soon as he arrived the sphere dissolved and this piece of another world faded into the night, revealing Sasuke. The shinobi escaped through a portal, a portal that opened directly next to Itachi.  
“Boruto! Come out!” shouted Sasuke.  
The blond boy leaped from the tree he was hiding in.  
“Boruto, what are you doing there?” screamed Naruto .  
The boy turned around to look into his father’s eyes. His resolute face emerged from the shadows and he shouted,  
“I go with Sasuke san.”  
Naruto stared with confusion at his son before his gaze shifted to his wife then to Sasuke.  
“Stop fighting!” he commanded his shinobi, “I need to talk to my son.”  
Naruto himself shed the chakra of Kyubi from his body.  
“What do you mean you leave with Sasuke?”  
Boruto planted his heels in the mud and looked up at his father.  
“Exactly that. I want to leave and learn from him. You know why?”  
Naruto shook his head with disbelief. He was not only losing a friend but also a son. Everything had changed so suddenly.  
“Because when you told me stories. Before you were the hokage. You told me you considered Sasuke san your equal and you told me you learnt the best out of the village with your master, Jiraya sama.  
—Jiraya was not a traitor!  
—Neither is Sasuke san! You protect the village, he protects his brother and the village.”  
Boruto’s blue eyes were riveted on his father’s face. “Sometimes, it’s nice to care about smaller things like your family.”

Naruto’s face became blurred with contrary emotions, he only said,  
“What Sasuke stole is a powerful weapon. It was being kept aside in case of a war to give Konoha an advantage. Do you still think what he did is right?”  
Sasuke, aogan still blazing in his eye, answered instead of Boruto.  
“The Otsutsuki situation could turn into a war. Itachi and I will train to be ready to face them. They’ll come at us, not at the village.” The Hokage hadn’t seen in years his friend’s eyes gleaming with that youth and determination. “Don’t you see, Naruto, that I was thinking way ahead of you?  
—There is no war.  
—Until there is one. The Otsutsuki are still looking for me. Make it clear we left the village. Make it a scandal so even the people from another planet won’t miss it.”

Hinata who was to only shinobi within hearing distance had stayed silent until now. She interrupted the two men. She didn’t care about political matters, she cared about her son who was going to leave.  
“Boruto... I don’t want you to go. I wish you’d stay with us.” Her white eyes were watery but her voice grew stronger, “but if you think your story lies there, I won’t hold you back. Leave. Become strong. No matter what you do, you’ll always have a home where I am. So when you are done, please come back.”  
Naruto threw his wife a painful look and the words he had to say cost him a lot,  
“No. If you decide to leave, Konoha won’t be your home anymore. Sasuke is a missing nin again and on the run. It won’t be possible to come back.”  
Hinata covered her mouth with her hands but she stood with a proud and straight back because she was a Hyuga after all.  
Boruto stepped back, closer to Sasuke.  
“I am sorry, Mom, Dad. I made my decision.”

Sasuke opened another gate behind the three of them. Before they disappeared, Sasuke stared into Hinata’s eyes and said,  
“I’ll keep him safe.”  
As the portal closed he saw Naruto had fell on his knees. 

***  
With Unike’s guidance, they had landed at the exact place where Orochimaru lived. It was a precision Sasuke had never achieved on his own and the main reason he still travelled on foot. The Wolf’s mocking voice echoed in his head,  
‘It’s no wonder really that you are still so shite with portals.’ The vulgar word made Sasuke’s mouth twitched. The Wolf was being talkative. ‘You are so busy, running around like a cub and flirting with your blind brother, you barely train yourself!  
—Won’t you keep quiet!’ Thought Sasuke as he wondered if Kurama was as annoying as Unike was. 

Sasuke turned to face his brother and asked,  
“How did Sarada take it?  
—Terribly.  
—What did she say?  
—She cried and said you should have come in person.”  
Sasuke nodded. When he focused on a goal, he tended to forget about all the collateral damages his choices would make. He shouldn’t have left Itachi break the news. His skin itched with guilt, he was abandoning her. At the same time, he clearly felt it was too late but not only for this time. He was several years late.

Itachi stopped walking and announced in a pained voice the new he had been holding back since they went through the portal. “She awakened her sharingan.”  
Sasuke closed his fist and stared at the ground. His voice was cold but broke on the last word.  
“Thanks to me.”  
Itachi didn’t comment and they kept on moving.

Orochimaru’s place had been partially rebuilt. The ground was still covered by a thin layer of ashes but the first sprouts of vegetation were already poking their green heads out of the soil. A pile of rubble was gathered in a corner of the courtyard. Most of the pillars had crumbled and were pointing jagged ends at the sky. Green and violet smoke rose from the chimneys, Sasuke deduced the lab was functional. 

One of Orochimaru’s henchman found them and lead them inside. Boruto couldn’t keep himself from watching around with curiosity. When they sat in green the sofa of the reception room, the boy turned towards Sasuke and his blue eyes were sparkling.  
“Orochimaru is the sannin who trained you, right?  
—Yes.  
—He’s very powerful?  
—Yes.  
—But my dad says he is not nice.”  
Sasuke didn’t answer because at that moment Orochimaru appeared before them.  
“Did your dad also tell you I eat rude little boys like you for breakfast?” He chuckled lowly and Boruto blanched. 

“What brings my favourite disciple and his charming brother there?”  
Sasuke fetched the jar containing Madara’s eyes and exposed it before Orochimaru. The sannin’s eyes widened before a sly grin stretched on his lips.  
“Sasuke, my boy, I can’t believe my eyes. What happened?  
—You’ll see it on the news. I have more important matters to discuss.”  
Orochimaru clasped his hands together et his vertical pupil was reduced to a fine line. He said in a loving tone,  
“You need me to transplant those.”  
Itachi took the eyes from his brother’s hands and said,  
“Yes. Could you do it quickly? Due to some events, we are on the run.”  
Orochimaru leant against the sofa and with his manicured hand he tucked a strand of sleek hair behind his ear.  
“Tonight. The surgery itself is not that complicated. However, there is always a price.”

The Uchiha brothers expected it. Sasuke stiffened and bent slightly in Orochimaru’s direction.  
The sannin turned towards the door and called out.  
“Mitsuki! Come here!”  
The door creaked and slowly opened, revealing a young boy. Boruto stretched his neck to see the newcomer. He was about his age. His alabaster skin looked sickly pale as it if he had never seen the sun before. He walked into the room with ease, almost gliding on the tiled floor. His almond eyes connected with Boruto’s and lingered there. He barely acknowledged the Uchiha brothers before he sat next to Orochimaru.  
“Sasuke you already saw Mitsuki, before he was born.”  
The inked haired shinobi nodded. He remembered he had seen the child floating inside a glass cylinder, after the attack of the Otsutsuki.  
“He is my son and he’s training to become a shinobi.” Orochimaru exchanged a brief look with his child and added, “We thought he should be given an education in Konoha but I see you got yourself a student already...”  
Mitsuki interrupted his parent and said,  
“I want to be your disciple!”  
Sasuke closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He had actually seen it coming, the moment the boy had pushed the door.  
“We are not a kindergarten. Didn’t I tell you we are on the run? We will leave the country and hide in Amegakure.”  
The sannin smiled patiently but the vertical pupil in his eyes shrunk with irritation.  
“You are on the run from who exactly?  
—Konoha. I stole the eyes.”  
The sannin’s thin eyebrows lowered as the implications of that statement dawned on him.  
“You two are back being missing nin and this time you brought Naruto’s son in your fall.” The corner of his mouth rose “You never fail to surprise me.” He wrapped his hand around his boy’s shoulder and Sasuke was surprised to see how fatherly the gesture was.  
“Mitsuki, I am sorry, this is not a good idea. I’ll send you to Konoha instead.”  
The boy’s face remained neutral but he clenched his fists. Orochimaru combed his messy white hair to placate him.

“Will you implant the eyes, yes or no?  
—I don’t really want to help... a dangerous criminal like you.”  
Sasuke knew Orochimaru was only having his little fun, making him wait and watching his reactions.  
“Don’t make a fool of yourself. I bet you are drooling just thinking you’ll get to examine Madara’s eyes.”  
The sannin chuckled in a way that seemed almost genuine.  
“You got me there.”  
He sprung up from the sofa with enthusiasm and added, “Itachi, get ready for the surgery. We’ll start in an hour.”


	19. Last Day of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orochimaru being gross.  
> Boruto being a brat.  
> Itachi being embarrassed.  
> Sasuke being a hot mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick summary of previous episodes because it's been a long time.   
> Sasuke has just stolen Madara's eyes and ran away from Konoha with Itachi and Boruto.   
> They reached Orochimaru’s place to get Itachi an eye transplant. 
> 
> This chapter took a long time to write and I apologise! As a compensation he's also twice as long as a normal chapter 🧐

The guest’s room had a luxurious bathroom. It was part of the wing that was still intact. The bathtub was carved in green marble run through by white and silver veins. The feet were, unsurprisingly, representing snakes with maws wide open and sharp fangs. 

The man inside the bathtub seemed to belong to the refined decoration. His long black hair were flowing on his pale chest, almost hairless and only disrupted by the pink buds of his nipples. Beads of water were rolling on his skin and the steamy water had coloured his cheeks with a faint blush. He tilted his head back and stretched his legs. He had not yet recovered entirely from his wounds and his muscles weren’t as toned as they used to be.

Itachi twitched when he heard the doorknob creak and Sasuke walked in the room.  
“You could have knocked,” said Itachi as he drew his knees against his chest.  
“I didn’t think you’d mind. I can leave...  
—No, stay.”  
Sasuke smirked and knelt next to the bathtub.  
“Are you anxious about the eye transplant?”  
Itachi’s face darkened in answer but he kept quiet.  
“What’s wrong?” Sasuke bent over the edge of the tub and Itachi hugged his knees tighter.  
“I hate how you planned everything behind my back.”  
Sasuke watched closely as a wrinkle appeared between his brother’s eyebrows and a sour smile stretched on his lips.

“I did the best I could do.”  
Itachi blinked and slowly shook his head.  
“You did to me what I did to you when you were a child. I thought I could shape your life without you even realising it, changing your fate for the best with lies and manipulation. It already broke us the first time around. It shouldn’t break us this time. You lied to me and even left a clone in your place.  
—I know! I wasn’t happy about it.”  
Said Sasuke defensively as the words sank in him.  
“I don’t blame you because I did the same to you and you’re... mirroring that behaviour. I’ll never forgive myself for what you had to go through. Never.”  
Sasuke felt his throat tighten.  
“Itachi... I don’t care about that anymore.  
—But I care and I know we have to change how we interact with each other. No more lies or words unsaid. I don’t want to lose you ever again. You are too... precious to me.”  
Sasuke lowered his head, feeling Itachi’s words weighing on his shoulders. His hair fell before his face and he was five all over again. His voice was weak and had lost its bite.  
“I love you.”  
The words hung painfully in the air before Itachi’s hand found its way to Sasuke’s face and he rubbed his cheek with his thumb.  
“I love you too, otouto. I am sorry I love you that much.”  
Their foreheads connected as Itachi’s wet hands cupped Sasuke’s face, dripping water on his shirt.  
“I messed up really bad this time.  
—You’re a foolish little brother but you’re not entirely wrong either.”  
Itachi pulled away but his touch lingered on Sasuke’s face, leaving him with a damp skin.  
“Are you still alright with the transplant?  
—It’s a bit late to ask.” Itachi sunk his head in the water and added when he emerged.  
“But I won’t lie to you, I am really exited when I think I’ll get to see again.”  
Sasuke gave him half of a smile,  
“I hadn’t noticed. You are always so cool and composed.  
—I know, I look cold.” He sighed, “I wish I wasn’t like that.”  
Sasuke reached for his brother’s shoulder and said, “I don’t wish you were even a little different.”

***  
Itachi was clean and ready to get under Orochimaru’s scalpel but the knot in his stomach only seemed to tighten with every passing minute. Sasuke was holding his hand and his sweaty fingers gave away his own anxiety.  
“It won’t take a long time and I won’t leave the room until it’s over.”  
Itachi managed to smile and let go off his brother’s hand. “Don’t worry.  
—I don’t!”

Orochimaru was making the last preparations. He had double checked his material and was now ready to begin. He took a syringe and filed it with a white liquid.  
“Time to go to sleep.” He whispered as he injected the liquid in Itachi’s vein. One heartbeat later, the shinobi was numbed and sank into a dreamless sleep. 

As much as he hated watching, Sasuke had promised to stay. He sat in a corner and glanced at his master. The man was skilled. He could see it in his precise and swift moves. At least, he could be trusted for his medical competencies.

“When I received Itachi’s eyes I remember the pain was excruciating. Can it be avoided? With painkillers or something?”  
Orochimaru was so absorbed by what he was doing that it took him a few seconds to answer but he didn’t stop.  
“Who transplanted Itachi’s eyes to you?  
—Obito.” The memory made Sasuke’s nose wrinkle. 

“That explains it all, he’s not a medical shinobi. A butcher could have done a better job. Be grateful you came out of it with only pain. I can guarantee you your brother will feel only a slight discomfort after the transplant.”  
Orochimaru swapped his scalpel for a pair of metallic scissors. The noise it made was enough to make Sasuke nauseous. He tried to find a subject of conversation, anything to distract him from the sloppy sounds coming from the centre of the room. 

There was a question he had been burning to ask ever since he had rescued Itachi from the alternative universe.  
“Sensei...”  
The word sounded almost foreign in his mouth but he felt quite vulnerable thinking about what he wanted to ask.  
“You’ve examined my brother and... I was wondering... Is he healthy?  
—He certainly is.  
—Are you sure?”  
The clatter of the metal stopped for an instant.  
“Are you doubting my skills in the medical art?  
—I need to be sure. That’s all.”  
Orochimaru swiftly grabbed a pair of tweezers and stole a glance at his former student.  
“Why are you asking?  
—Because before Itachi died in this wold, he was ill...”

Orochimaru chuckled in a way that made Sasuke’s mouth twitch.  
“You think it’s funny?” His voice came out more aggressive than he wanted. He couldn’t help it, Orochimaru made his skin prickle with irritation.  
“I think it’s hilarious he didn’t tell you about his ‘illness’. That was a fine disease indeed that caused his death.  
—He wasn’t sick?  
—Oh no... He wasn’t. You will be surprised to know he actually...”  
Sasuke stood from the stool and interrupted Orochimaru.  
“No don’t tell me. If he wants to keep it a secret, I don’t need to know. Tell me only one thing, can he still die from it?  
—He could but I know he won’t. Are you sure you don’t want to know?  
—I’m sure. Get the transplantation going. I’m sick of watching.”  
Orochimaru turned toward Sasuke with one bloody eye in each hand.  
“You really don’t understand the beauty of science.”  
Sasuke looked away and waved his hand vaguely.  
“Just get it done, old man.”

***  
When Itachi awakened, everything was dark. He felt confused and sluggish but he knew it shouldn’t be dark anymore. The thought had been branded inside his mind before he fell into an artificial sleep and it was still the only thing he knew as he emerged. It shouldn’t be dark anymore. With a violent thrust of his back, he sat in the bed and brought his hands to his face, feeling a blindfold before his eyes. His fingers curled around the cloth to tear it away.  
“No, no! Calm down, Itachi!”  
Sasuke’s voice made him halt his movements.  
“You have to keep it for a day. That’s what Orochimaru said.  
—Oh.”  
Itachi slouched back in the bed and moved his hands away as if the blindfold was burning.  
“Something about the nerves connecting... Well... Just don’t take it off.  
—I won’t.”  
One last day of darkness. Itachi had never been impatient but this one time, a day seemed like too many hours.  
“Are you alright, Itachi san?”  
That was Boruto’s voice. His mind was still foggy and he hadn’t noticed the chakra signature of the boy.  
“I am fine.  
—How powerful have you become? As much as Sasuke san?”

Now that he was paying attention to it, he felt a new power in his eyes, latent, as if it was hibernating and only waiting for the first ray of sunshine to awaken. It was different from his mangekyô sharingan, but not as foreign as he would have thought. 

“I don’t know yet how powerful but at least as powerful as I was before and probably a lot more.” He answered to Boruto.  
“Cool. I don’t see how the two of you won’t kick the asses of the Otsutsuki.  
—You know about them?”  
Sasuke sounded surprised.  
“You kind of mentioned them... And I eavesdrop a lot. I mean, that’s how I knew where Madara’s eyes were kept.  
—I wouldn’t have thought you were interested enough to spy on adults like that.  
—You say I look too stupid to care?” Boruto balled his fists and a childish pout appeared on his lips. Sasuke leant against his chair and commented,  
“You can’t blame me. Just look at how you are dressing.  
—Tracksuits are still better than wearing only black!  
—I’m a shinobi, I don’t dress for the carnival. Well, your dad was the worst. He used to wear an awful orange tracksuit.  
—I know! He still has ten of them. And there’re all the same!”  
Boruto’s face darkened as he talked about his father. Sasuke patted his back and after a moment of silence, he spoke up again.  
“There is something that remains unclear to me. Maybe you know the answer. When I talked to Naruto and asked his permission to use the eyes, he disposed of some very private information about me.  
—You mean what he said about Itachi and you.”  
Sasuke kept his expression under control but he saw in the corner of his eyes that Itachi had twitched at Boruto’s words.  
“Precisely. I know for sure no one was spying on us.  
—Because there was no-one. Ever heard of camera?  
—No.”  
Boruto gauged Sasuke from head to toe with a smug smile.  
“You’re such a grandad.”  
Instantly, Sasuke’s hands were on his collar and his two bizarre eyes were staring straight into his own.  
“Show respect or I’ll dump you in Konoha right now.”  
Boruto wriggled but Sasuke’s iron grip didn’t loosen.  
“What are you so pissed about? You, you don’t respect Orochimaru!  
—I do. He was my master for years and I learnt a lot from him. He also knows a lot about me. Don’t mistake my familiarity for the utter lack of respect you showed. If you can’t behave yourself, I’ll leave you behind. I am not your mom and this is not Konoha anymore.”  
Boruto gulped and his arms fell limply by his sides.  
“I’m sorry.”  
Sasuke released him and resumed their previous conversation as if nothing had just happened.  
“So those cameras?”  
Boruto answered without delay,  
“It’s a device that is able to capture the image and the sound.  
—Like the television?  
—Yes precisely! It records everything and spies on you.  
—Thank you, Boruto. You can leave us now.”  
The blond boy nodded stiffly and exited the room in silence.

Once the door was shut, Itachi grabbed Sasuke’s arm and said.  
“You shouldn’t have been so rough with him. He’s just a kid who left his home two days ago.”  
Sasuke stared by the window and his voice was tensed.  
“You know why I am doing it. Today, it has no consequences but one day, there will be a fight and he will disobey. Then, there will be consequences.  
—There are other ways to earn his respect.  
—I don’t have the time. I promised his mother I’d keep him safe.  
—And you will. Don’t worry.”

***

When the day declined, Sasuke was still by his brother’s side. Itachi had slept some more and his face looked peaceful. His chest was rising and falling regularly and the faint sound of his respiration was the only noise disturbing the silence. 

As Sasuke watched over his sleeping brother, his thoughts drifted. His face was serious but a sea of unnamed feelings were rolling beneath his skin. He drummed his fingers on the edge of the bed. The past month had been frustrating and now all his bottled up desires were swirling inside his belly and running like liquid fire in his loins.

Itachi’s lips looked soft and he wanted to kiss them. He wanted to hold him and feel his skin against his skin. He wanted to trace with his hands his every shape. He wanted to feel him inside and outside. He wanted to love him and to be loved. He wanted everything and it hurt so much.

A voice echoed inside his head like water seeping through a rock. Unike had kept quiet the whole day but it seemed like it couldn’t last any longer.  
‘Why are you watching your brother? It’s been hours and all he does is sleep!  
—You can’t understand.’  
The Wolf inside him wagged his tail with annoyance.  
‘I have been around sentient species for a long time before I was locked up. I know you want to mate with him.’  
Sasuke balled his fists at the word ‘mate’.  
‘It’s not like we are animals! I only want to hold him close.’  
The mental image he had of Unike grinned and uncovered its fangs in a snide smile.  
‘From what I saw, people don’t like the way you want to hold your brother. And I don’t understand why.’  
Sasuke was tired of explaining everything to the beast within him.  
‘Well, it’s taboo to desire someone from your own blood.  
—What’s taboo?  
—Something that’s socially unacceptable. It disgust people and makes them uncomfortable.’  
Unike nodded sharply.  
‘I see. I have been to countless planets before you know but I’ve never seen one where it’s taboo to mate with someone you love no matter who they are.  
—Stop saying ‘mate’. It’s annoying.  
—Should I use ‘fuck’ instead?’  
Sasuke rose from his chair and paced the room.  
‘Don’t say anything. I don’t want to talk about it.  
—Stop thinking about it then! Because I’m in your thoughts and I’m tired of feeling every damn minute that you want to get naked with him and do this and that. Get it done and move on!’  
“Oh shut up!” said Sasuke aloud. He felt a rush of heat spreading on his skin from both irritation and embarrass. He already had difficulties to manage his thoughts without needing Unike to scrutinise and dissect them.

At that moment, the sheets rustled and Itachi woke up because of the noise.  
“What’s going on? Are you alright?”  
His sleepy voice made Sasuke startle and rush by his side.  
“I’m fine. I was discussing with Unike and he was being annoying.”  
Itachi stretched and Sasuke’s eyes lingered on the way his back arched and how he exposed his neck. It was intoxicating and made his pulse race.  
“It must be strange to share your mind with him.  
—You can’t even imagine how much.  
—I’m sorry. You did it for me.”  
Sasuke sat at the end of the bed and took Itachi in his arms.  
“I’d do it a thousand times if I had to and it’s not that bad anyway. Generally, he keeps quiet.”

The sweet warmth of summer nights entered the room by the open window and the curtains shuddered. Sasuke held Itachi tighter and kissed his cheek, next to his ear. Itachi leant into his touch and sighed audibly. Sasuke whispered,  
“I need to know if you’ve made your decision. What do you want us to be?” His question made Itachi stiffen.  
“I don’t think there is a good decision. I am already unredeemable for what I did but I don’t want to take you in my fall. If I could just be your brother, I think that would be the best for you.”  
Sasuke was still amazed by the tortuous ways of his brother’s thinking. He tried not to sound too irritated when he answered.  
“I am not asking you what you think is good or what you think you should do. I’m only asking you if you want it. Do you want it, Itachi?”  
The man kept quiet so Sasuke stood up. He closed the windows, locked the door and turned off the lights before he sat in front of his brother again.  
“It’s only you and me in this room so can you tell me, honestly, what do you want?”  
Itachi turned his head away and after a short silence, he said in a low voice laden with tension,  
“I want to kiss you.”  
That wasn’t the answer Sasuke desired but he could do with it.  
The bed creaked when he climbed on it. He straddled Itachi’s hips and bent to kiss him. Even in the dark, he found easily his brother’s mouth. Itachi answered very gently, almost clumsily. He passed his arm around Sasuke’s back and drove him closer. When he parted his lips, Sasuke forced the soft barrier of his lips with his tongue. Itachi did not fight for dominance, he let his young brother lead him and accepted the intrusion with a muffled moan. When Sasuke felt Itachi becoming hard beneath him, he broke the kiss.

Itachi was panting and he rose his hips instinctively to seek more contact.  
“Do you want more than a kiss?  
—I... Yes, I want more.  
—Very good, ” uttered Sasuke breathlessly. He covered his brother with his whole body and grinded against his clothed erection.  
“That feels nice...” said Itachi between two repressed moans.  
Sasuke’s fingers fumbled in the dark until he found the buttons of Itachi’s pyjamas. As he undid them, he kissed the skin he had just uncovered. Itachi’s head sank in the pillow as he arched his back.

Sasuke had a lot of experience in the matter, maybe too much, but he had never burnt with such passion. His body was overwhelmed by every touch, the taste of Itachi’s skin, slightly salty from the summer heat, his scent, his barely audible moans as if he was too shy and held his voice down.  
Sasuke teased one of his nipple with his tongue. Instantly Itachi tensed and shifted under him.  
“Slow down a bit.”  
His respiration was fast and his cheeks flushed. When he finally got his breath back, Itachi touched Sasuke’s face and pecked him on the lips then he kissed the skin of his collarbone, mirroring what Sasuke had already done to him. He reached for his brother’s trousers and unfastened his belt. Sasuke helped him and got rid of his own trousers. At that point, Itachi looked dumbfounded even though he and Sasuke were both painfully hard and both begging to be touched.

“Maybe you could undress too,” suggested Sasuke.  
Itachi’s fingers were trembling and he had difficulties undoing the buttons of his trousers. Sasuke caught his hands in his own.  
“There is no need to rush. I don’t want you to be so nervous that you shake like a leaf. We can stop now.”

Itachi pushed his hands away and came back to his buttons — this time succeeding in undoing them. Before he pulled his pants down, he said,  
“That will sound ridiculous to you but I’ve never done it with a man.  
—Oh...”  
Sasuke couldn’t hide his surprised tone but after a second of uncertainty, he drove Itachi’s head against his chest,  
“I had no idea. It’s alright, let’s stop now.  
—No, no that’s not what I mean. I want it but I don’t really know how we are supposed to do.”

In the complete darkness of the locked room, Sasuke lips stretch in a serious smile.  
“Do you trust me?  
—Always.” The young shinobi had never thought a single word could have so much power. It made him want to cry as much as it made his body crawl with desire. 

He gave Itachi the softest kiss while palming his hardness through his underwear. His hand soon found its way inside and he got to finally touch the skin of his penis. His fingers wrapped firmly around it. He was thick. Sasuke moaned at the thought of having such a shaft inside him and he felt himself harden. 

Without warning, Itachi’s hand was on his stomach, laying flat and shyly stroking him.  
“You can touch my cock if you want to.”  
Eagerly, the hand shifted and grabbed his fully erected penis. They pumped in sync, mirroring each other’s gesture and driving the other closer to the edge with each stroke. Sasuke panted, arching his back as he increased the pressure of his hand. His fingers were now slick with his brother’s precum. He gave Itachi a fierce and youthful kiss before he nested his head in the crook of his brother’s neck. His free hand lost in his ink black hair. 

He had no shame. He was filled was love.  
He loved his brother. Loved the man Itachi was. Loved his hand on his cock and the way he made him moan. Loved how his long hair flowed on his back and how breathtaking he was.

“Sasuke... I can’t hold on... much longer.” A long gasp escaped Itachi’s lips.  
“Come for me.”  
Sasuke rolled his thumb on the head of Itachi’s penis. A long thrill ran through him and he came heavily on Sasuke’s belly. As soon as Itachi’s warm seed touched him, his arousal peaked and gathered in his groin. He closed his eyes, feeling Itachi’s lips on his own. His toes curled and he came inside his brother’s hand. 

Sasuke collapsed on Itachi. They were both sticky and covered in sweat but happier than they had ever been. With his clean hand, the older brother brushed away the hair from Sasuke’s forehead.  
“I never knew it could be so good.  
—Perfect,” purred Sasuke in a raucous voice. 

A satisfied tiredness fell over them like a blanket. They didn’t feel the need to dress up or even clean themselves and sleep found them in each other’s arms. 

***  
Morning came quickly and Itachi woke up with the sun. He passed his hand on his belly where Sasuke’s cum had dried and smiled despite himself. 

As he sat silently at the edge of the bed, he removed the blindfold from his eyes. He kept them shut and drew in a long inspiration. A little longer, he was so close now. He fumbled towards the window and drew the curtains. Then and only then he opened his eyes.  
At first, the light made him blink and everything was white. As the glare faded, colours exploded, flowing and unwind the beauty of the world again. A childlike joy rose inside his chest. The sky was so blue and the grass so green. It was like a slap in his face. Everything was beautiful. 

Itachi took his eyes away from the window and turned around. For the first time he was able to see Sasuke. His throat tightened and he fell on his knees before his little brother.  
“How beautiful.” He said in a barely audible voice. 

Sasuke was a reflection.  
He was the amazing man Itachi had come to know. Strong and male features. A hint of stubble. Well defined muscles.  
He was Itachi’s little brother. He was five and sleeping with an angelic expression. Hair soft and black like his own. He was his blood.  
And his lover. 

It was confusing but it didn’t feel wrong as Itachi had feared it would.

Sasuke was his brother lover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I used the word penis... I didn't felt like the word cock really belonged to the style of the narration. (except in dialogues because you definitely don't say, 'will you be so kind as to suck my PENIS, sir?' (unless that's a kink of yours)).  
> That's not overly used in fanfictions, probably because it sounds kind of medical and I was unsure as to whether I should use it. Just tell me what you thought. Is the word penis immersion breaking or does it sound alright?


	20. The Higher you Climb...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A crow brings back news from Konoha and the three men squad departs for Amegakure.

“Itachi san!” someone was knocking at the bedroom’s door. The rapping intensified.  
“Itachi san ! Can you come please?”

Itachi navigated his way to the door and opened it. It was Boruto. His eyebrows twitched imperceptibly.  
“You really are the spitting image of Naruto when he was your age.”  
The kid cracked a smile.  
“You can really see!  
—Oh yes.” Said Itachi flatly as he blocked the door, suddenly remembering he had a very much naked brother sleeping in his bed.  
“Why did you come? Is there a problem?  
—Not really but there is this weird talking crow in my room and it told me it needed to see you.  
—Hmm. That must be Kuro.”  
The sound of wings flapping echoed in the corridor and Itachi’s crow rushed towards them.  
“Yes, it’s me! I got letters to deliver from your niece, miss Sarada.”  
Kuro’s claws gripped Itachi’s shoulders and he rubbed his small black feathered head in the crook of his master’s neck.  
“You did good, Kuro. Thank you Boruto. I’ll take it from here. You can go now.”

Itachi blocked the view inside his bedroom and awkwardly closed the door with Kuro still perched on his shoulder.  
Sasuke had been woken up by noise and he was rubbing his eyes. He yawned and turned a sleepy head towards his brother.  
Itachi smiled to himself.  
“What’s going on, nee san?”  
When he heard the familiar name, Itachi’s heart ached with a sweet pain.  
“Nee san ?”  
He had the strong feeling that something broken between them had been mended. Something he wasn’t even aware of. He sat on the bed and pointed at the crow,  
“That’s Kuro. One of my summon. I left him with Sarada. With him, she can contact us even if she doesn’t know where we are.”  
Itachi untied two letters from the crow’s leg.  
“Looks like he has news for us.”

He handed his brother an envelope. After a second of hesitation, Sasuke grabbed it.  
“I’m not sure I want to read it.”  
Itachi didn’t answer and tore open his own letter, skimming through the first time before he gave it a more attentive reading.  
“Oh. She said half of the kids in her class won’t talk to her because she’s the daughter of a traitor.”

Sasuke clutched his own unsealed letter. Itachi stared into his brother’s eyes and said,  
“Are you really not going to open it? She wrote it for you.”  
Sasuke stood up and turned his back on Itachi.  
“I often feel like I should never have been a father.”  
Itachi registered his brother’s words. He wasn’t surprised because more than once he had felt it. Sasuke, awkwardly trying to be a dad, playing the role of what he thought a father should be.  
“What are you going to do? Pretend she doesn’t exist like you did for ten years?”  
Those words said by this mouth hurt Sasuke like a dagger piercing through his heart.  
“I get it, you don’t like what I’m saying but try to understand me. I feel like a pathetic excuse of a father. I’m so damn scared because I’m not good enough. How do I get to deserve to be her dad when her existence was part of a deal to give me back my freedom? How can I look into her eyes and not feel like an imposter?  
—You should look into her eyes and be proud of her. She’s her own person, she’s not just part of a deal you made.”  
Itachi grabbed his brother’s shoulder and he added more gently,  
“She is your daughter. She belongs to our clan.”  
Sasuke nodded. His hands were trembling and he slid his thumb beneath the lid of the letter, unfolding it.

_Dear Papa,_  
_I hope this letter will find you. I’m still not totally convinced of this crow’s ability to deliver letters._  
_Uncle explained everything to me. I wish you would have trusted me enough to tell me. I would have supported you._  
_I wanted to come with you but Itachi didn’t let me. He was probably right because now they are calling you a missing nin. Guess that would make it difficult for me to become Hokage._  
_The day after you left, I found out Boruto was missing and the rumors say he is with you. If he really is with you, let me tell you he is a lot of trouble (That’s what Shino sensei says all the time)._  
_Everyone in Konoha thinks ~~your~~ you’re a traitor but I heard a part of the shinobi are siding with you. Mom says this is gonna cause a lot of chaos. Naruto san hadn’t made any speech yet. I wonder if it’s because he’s missing his son. He came home and talked with mom. He seemed really upset. I also heard people are freaking out over Uncle’s return. _  
_Wherever you are, please be safe._  
_Sarada._  
_PS. Send back a letter!!!! I’m so worried._

Once he was finished reading, Sasuke folded the letter.  
“She didn’t say the other kids were not talking to her.  
—She probably doesn’t want you to worry. She’s a good kid.  
—Yes, she is.”  
Sasuke turned towards his brother.  
“Do you know if there is a paper and a pen inside your room?”  
Itachi’s expression softened,  
“In the desk. Make good use of it.  
—I will.”  
Sasuke counted inside his head and just as he hit the number ‘three’ he dropped two more words “Thank you.”

***  
An open portal was facing Sasuke, Itachi and Boruto. They were getting ready to depart Orochimaru’s place.  
“I’m curious. How does your portal work? Do you have to picture the place in your head? Do you need to have been there before?”  
Orochimaru’s yellow eyes lit up with a thirst for knowledge when his former disciple answered his question.  
“I had to figure out the rules by myself as besides Kaguya, the other users of the rinnegan couldn’t open portals. At least, I don’t think Madara, Nagato or Obito could. From my experience, I can tell you that if I went to a place before, I can go back there but I lost in accuracy the further the portal is. I can open portals to places I have never been but it’ll be really random. And this portal to Amegakure I opened it with only a direction in mind. It needed to be in the northwest. For all I know we could still be very far from the city.”  
Orochimaru smiled, revealing unnaturally white teeth.  
“The complexity of it is just thrilling. I wish I could keep you in my lab.”

Itachi moved to stand before Sasuke and he gave Orochimaru a chilling gaze with his rinnegan eyes.  
“This is not happening.”  
Sasuke grabbed his brother’s shoulder.  
“Don’t bother. That’s just his idea of a joke.”  
Orochimaru laughed but he was the only one.  
“You brothers sure look like you are getting along wonderfully!  
—We are head over heels in love.”  
Said Sasuke without batting an eyelash.  
“I never knew you had that kind of sense of humor. Well, well, well. It’s time for you to go, I don’t want to have to answer to Konoha for having missing nin under my roof.”

As they were leaving, a white haired kid poked his head through the door of the room. It was Mitsuki. Once Boruto spotted him, he called his name. The white boy moved towards their group with hesitant steps. His yellow eyes, so similar to his father’s, looked tired.  
“I wish you could have stayed longer.”  
Boruto took the boy’s hands in his own.  
“I’m sure we’ll meet again.  
—I hope so. I want our fates to be tangled.  
—Haha. What does that even mean?”  
Boruto scratched the back of his head with embarrassment but his cheeks had taken a shade of pink.  
“Well, then that’s a goodbye.  
—Take care, Boruto.”

Sasuke dragged his brother and Boruto by the arm and they finally left the Land of Fire.

***

  
“I think we are lost.” That was Boruto.  
“Whining has never helped anyone and we are not lost. We only need someone to show us the right way.” That was Sasuke.  
“Otouto. That’s the definition of being lost.” That was Itachi.

The Uchiha brothers still had the energy to walk for another few hours but Sasuke noticed how slow Boruto was getting. The bag he carried was probably heavy for him.

“We should set up a camp. Dusk is close.”  
They were in the middle of the wilderness. The forest had surrounded them and they didn’t seem to be close to get out of it.  
“We have enough rations for four days.” Said Itachi as he unpacked what would be their dinner —courtesy of Orochimaru.  
“If it takes more time to reach a town we can hunt.  
—A life is a life. Instead of hunting, we could find edible roots and bays. It’s summer, it won’t be difficult to survive.”  
Sasuke nodded. He had never thought about it and anyway he didn’t have the knowledge that would let him pick the edible plants from the toxic ones.

They carried little in their travelling bags and in now time they had unfolded blankets to sleep. The night was warm enough so they didn’t need a fire. Boruto was chewing on his ration while Sasuke scouted the area to make sure there was no threat around.

“I’m going to climb this oak. I want to see the sunset.” Said Itachi as he began jumping in the tree. He leaped from the lower branches to the highest ones in the blink of an eye with only a rustle of leaves. He noticed he used equally his eyes and his perception of the natural chakra to locate himself in space. Once he reached the top of the tree, he sat astride a branch.

The sun was sinking inside the earth and throwing red, pink and golden lights as a farewell to the day dying. Itachi sat still but his hands squeezed the branch he was straddling.  
He hadn’t lost the memory of how beautiful sunset was when he was blind but he had longed to see it anew. Even before he went blind, he had lost a great part of his sight. Those youthful colours made him feel new and innocent. They were inked on his retina.

Clouds tainted in a soft pink blushed until they turned red and stretched on the horizon like lazy cats. Soon, a deep purple descended over the forest and swallowed the last sparkles of the day.  
Itachi leant back against the trunk, satisfied. When he closed his eyes, the ghost of the sunset was still dancing behind his eyelids.

The leaves next to him rustled and Sasuke emerged from the dark.  
“Was it worth climbing?  
—Absolutely.”  
Itachi lips stretched in a content smile.  
“And you? Was it worth climbing?  
—I don’t know. Do you think this branch can support both of our weights?”  
Itachi patted the free space before him.  
“You won’t know unless you try.”  
Sasuke jumped before his brother. The branch swayed up and down but held on. He sat in front of Itachi and rolled his hips back to settle between his legs. Itachi’s breath tickled his nape and his arm circled his belly.

Their bodies intertwined were no more than shadows lost in the much greater shadow of the night. The leaves were murmuring a lullaby under the fingers of the wind. The moonlight pierced between the clouds and threw a silvery veil over the forest. The nature wasn’t silent, it was vibrant and eager for life. The shinobi huddling together whispered because they knew human voices didn’t belong to the forest.  
“I wonder, what are we now? I can’t separate my love for you. I love you like a brother, my little Sasuke who always used to follow me around and pouted every time when I left him home… and now you’re a grown up man. My skin burns when I touch you and I love you like a man should love a lover. I don’t know how to make both aspects of my love fit together and it feels wrong to want both things from you.  
—You think too much. There is no difference between me when I was a kid and me now. I just grew up and your love grew up with me. I wouldn’t have it any other way. So now shut up and give us a kiss.”  
Sasuke turned around and Itachi put his lips on his own. He forgot the world around him, absorbed only by his brother’s touch and the proximity of their bodies.  
Sasuke breathed out inside Itachi’s ear,  
“If we had been alone I would have made love to you on top of the tree.”  
Itachi brushed Sasuke’s cheek.  
“That would be unwise.”  
Sasuke laughed shortly and turned back.  
“I’m not wise at all!”

A cloud obscured the moon and a chilly wind blew over them. Sasuke leant against his brother. There was a thought in the back of his mind and he hadn’t been able to forget about it ever since he had asked Orochimaru.  
“Nee san… You told me how your Sasuke died but you never asked me how Itachi from my dimension died.”  
The branch holding them creaked when Itachi shifted his weight closer to the trunk.  
“You have an eternal mangekyô sharingan. That’s enough for me to know how I died.  
—I didn’t kill you!”  
Itachi’s hands closed around Sasuke’s jaw from behind.  
“I know. I died the way I had planned to die.  
—Obito told me you were ill”  
Itachi lowered his hands on Sasuke’s shoulders.  
“If you worry about me being sick, I am not anymore.  
—I don’t understand a thing you say. Can’t you explain to me with clear words what happened.”  
Sasuke’s voice became sharp and abrupt but Itachi didn’t waver.  
“Don’t make me say something I don’t want to remember.”

Sasuke unclenched his fist. As much as he wanted to know, the only thing that matter was that his brother was fine.

“I…”  
Itachi hushed him with finger and whispered in his ear.  
“Quiet. There are twelve chakra signals coming in our direction.  
—Hostile?  
—I don’t know.  
—I’ll wake Boruto up.”

Sasuke slid down the tree silently and grabbed the boy’s shoulder. He muffled him with a hand on his mouth. Boruto stopped struggling when he realised it was his mentor.  
“There are people coming our way. Possibly enemies. Hide in the trees until we’re sure its safe.  
—But I want to fight.  
—Those are orders. Hide in the trees.”  
The blond boy climbed in a tree. He glanced back to watch Sasuke, pouting.

Itachi appeared from the shadows and stood next to his brother.  
“It can’t possibly be shinobi from Konoha.  
—It’s too early for that.”  
Sasuke leant against a tree and crossed his arms.

A kunai flew in the dark. Before it hit him Sasuke took a step aside.  
“So they are hostile.” He stated in a cool voice. “Itachi, you want to take them out?”  
The long haired man nodded. He already knew where their assailants were.  
Sasuke sat at the foot of the tree and closed his eyes.  
“Hurry up. We still have a long walk tomorrow.”

The brothers were surrounded. Their lack of fear infuriated the men hiding behind the bushes.  
“Are they mocking us? Make them shut up!” Eight men emerged from the forest. Blades were drawn.  
And it was over.  
They had stopped in their tracks.  
Subjugated.  
Itachi stood in the centre and his eyes were gleaming.

Sasuke’s eyes lingered on his brother who had effortlessly stopped the fight before it could even begin.  
“I thought you said there were twelve of them.”  
Itachi turned slowly to face his brother.  
“The four others stayed away.  
—Should I get them?”

From behind his back, a woman yelled,  
“We mean no trouble!  
—Who are you?” Sasuke got on his feet and turned around.  
“We are mercenaries. We were trying to catch this band of brigands.” There was a silence. “Seems that you were faster than us.  
—Come out and help us tie them up. Boruto, you can come out and help too.”

A group of four persons walked up to them. They were trained warriors. It was obvious in the defiant way they gazed around. If they felt threatened, Sasuke had no doubt they would draw their swords.

The woman who had spoken seemed to be their leader. She extended a resolute hand towards Sasuke. He shook it. She withstood his gaze without blinking.  
“Name’s Nakano. My guys and I have been on the trail of those human trash for four days and nights. We nearly had them but I guess you get the bounty.  
—We don’t care about the bounty. You can have them.”

Itachi, walked towards them. He noticed the three men stiffened when they saw his rinnegan. In the other hand, Nakano stared at him briefly before she took her eyes off him.  
“Are you sure? The bounty for them is really high.  
—We don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to us.  
—You guys are on the run?”  
The brothers kept quiet.

Boruto in his pajamas stayed a few steps away but he didn’t miss a word that was said. Nakano frowned when she saw him.  
“Did you kidnap this kid?” She moved her hand to the sword hanging on her waist. Boruto burst out laughing and Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance.  
“On the contrary. That brat forced us to take him along.”  
Itachi’s expression softened and he ruffled Sasuke’s hair with no concern for his otouto’s dignity,  
“Don’t take my brother’s words seriously. He likes that kid.  
—Tss.”

Nakano’s eyes crinkled imperceptibly and her stance relaxed. She addressed her men.  
“Boys, take the ropes and make sure none of those bastards can move even a finger.”  
She turned her attention back to the brothers.  
“Do you have booze?  
—No.  
—That’s lucky we always carry some with us.”

While the brigands were being tied up and gagged, Nakano sat with the Uchiha. She stared at them alternatively.  
“I know you. You are Itachi. You are dead. And those eyes I know them from the time this land was ruled by Pain.”  
She poured herself a glassful of sake without looking away from Itachi.  
“I don’t care about your story or whatever but you can take this advice from me. There is no chance you can remain incognito with those eyes.”  
Itachi blinked. The rinnegan was gone, replaced by black irises.  
“Well, at least you don’t stand out that much now.”  
She lowered the hood that had concealed her face. She was in her mid forty and her tanned skin betrayed how much time she spent outdoor. The only remarkable thing about her face was a mole under her right eye.

“We want to get to Amegakure. Could you point us in the right direction?”  
Nakano wiped the sake from her mouth.  
“Better. I’ll lead you there. Turns out our HQ is in Ame. By the way if you want to join us you are welcome. You are crazy strong.” She jerked her head in Itachi’s direction.  
“But I bet your brother is not too shitty himself.  
—Thank you but we only want to keep a low profile.  
—Offer still stands if you need it one day.”  
Sasuke glanced behind his back, looking at the tied up scoundrels who had just begun to awaken from Itachi’s genjutsu. Nakano caught his gesture and explained.  
“This nasty bunch aren’t your common thugs. They are involved in kidnapping and human traffic. Especially children.” Her gaze shifted for a second towards Boruto. “They feed slave markets and illegal prostitution. Trash!” Her mouth twisted with disgust. “The world will be better off without them.”  
She poured the alcohol in two other glasses and gave each brother one. Itachi sipped it while Sasuke only fiddled with it.  
“I don’t drink.  
—That’s a pity.”  
He changed the subject.  
“I thought Amegakure had made a lot of societal progress. I didn’t know you had human traffic problems.  
—But there have been a lot of progress! See, before, no one cared about it. Now, those scums have bounties over their heads and actually go to jail. After Pain disappeared our city has known an era of chaos and we are still a long way from prosperity.”

When every last one of the bandits was finally tied up, the mercenaries set up camp with the Uchiha. The grass was covered with makeshift beds and soon everyone was sleeping.  
Everyone but Sasuke. He had volunteered to take the first watch.

He climbed on a low branch and scanned the surroundings. The night was calm again.  
His gaze drifted to Itachi’s sleeping form. He had untied his hair. His beautiful hair. Black as ink and soft as a silk.

Sometimes, Sasuke couldn't believe he had found Itachi again. The more they bonded, the more he was scared. Most nights, before he could fall asleep, his guts twisted in fear. What if he lost Itachi again? He knew he had no strength to carry on without him and now he also knew he didn’t want to chase another Itachi in another universe. The bond they shared. It was unique. It couldn’t be done twice. This was their last chance. Sasuke knew he’d do everything to protect Itachi. He couldn’t imagine his life without him.  
A raucous voice echoed in the back of his mind,  
_‘But Fate is a bitch. It doesn’t like to be cheated on. Are you stronger than fate?’_  
Sasuke’s heart clenched but he whispered through his gritted teeth.  
“Yes, Unike. I have to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit I have a soft spot for a socially awkward Itachi... :3


	21. The Uchiha Crest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi could have it all, but how much does he want it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between exams and dried up inspiration I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter but it's finally here! I had to write the whole thing with a real pen and real paper, that's the best cure I know to overcome writer's block. It's a bit of a pain but it is worth it! 
> 
> Thank you for all the lovely comments. I felt terrible for not being able to update earlier but this chapter is a long one and I hope it will make up for the long long wait. 
> 
> Anyway, have fun and enjoy!

Amegakure was a grey city. Everything from the ground to the sky was grey.  
“That’s a bit depressing,” Whispered Boruto, “how long are we going to stay?”  
Sasuke glanced at his disciple.  
“A few months. Maybe more.”  
The boy thrust his fist inside his pocket and sighed inaudibly. 

Nakano and her men were watching closely after their prisoners. They all had a kunai or a katana in their hands, ready to react. Nakano walked closer to Itachi while keeping an eye on the bandits.  
“ You have a place to crash in Ame? This was a big catch and as I’ve said before, I wouldn’t mind having you guys around. Even if you need money, I can get you jobs.  
－Thank you for your concern but I think my brother knows a place where we can live.  
－’right, fine.”  
She made her kunai spin around her finger with annoyance but she didn’t insist.

When they reached Amegakure’s gates, the guards let them enter without any question after Nakano talked to them.  
“It appears that it is a good thing we have the protection of Nakano san,” said Itachi as he bent towards his brother. Sasuke nodded but he was actually listening to the conversation the kunoichi was having with the captain of the guards.  
“...that’s another step in securing Ame. This will be a huge blow to their organization and the whole human traffic. You can let us handle the prisoners from now on.  
－That will be a relief. I want to puke each time I have to see their faces.”  
The man chuckled before he put on a serious face again.  
“By the way, we have found another one of their victims yesterday. A girl, about twelve years old, won’t say a word and bony as starving cow.  
－Does she have some place to go back to?  
－Dunno, mam. Probably not. It’s always the same old story. They only target kids no one will miss. She’s probably another stray dog that lives in the streets.  
－Then, I’ll take her in until she can manage on her own.  
－I hoped you’d say that.”

***

Once they got inside Amekagure, Boruto’s eyes went wide. He had never seen sky-scrappers before. He twisted his neck back to see how high they climbed. He thought they may just touch the clouds.  
In contrast, when he lowered his gaze past the tall glassy buildings, he saw only filth and poverty. Dirty water never stopped running down the gutters. The tar of the road was damaged and fractured. They went past a lot of crumbling houses and the more Boruto saw the more he thought this city must have been a nice place to live a hundred years ago but now it was just the broken carcass left by uncountable wars. Even the sky-scrapers were not as mighty as he thought they were. They missed glasses like an old man missed teeth. 

The little group halted at a crossroad. Sasuke shook Nakano’s hand.  
“It’s time to part ways. Thank you for guiding us here.”  
The shinobi startled when she took his hands in her own. He wasn’t used to such familiarity!  
“No. Thanks to you, my boys. It means a lot that you took down those bad men.”  
As she let go of his hands, a guard rushed towards them.  
“Sorry to interrupt but that’s the child we talked about. The man pushed before him a girl with big hollow eyes. Her clothes clung awkwardly on her thin body making her look like a ghost. Boruto shivered involuntarily.  
“What happened to her?” he asked but none of the adults answered.  
Nakano took her by the shoulders and when the girl looked up they all saw it. Her eyes. They were pitch black with a blue border. The black in her eyes was her pupils. She had actually blue eyes.  
Boruto stepped back and Itachi blanched.

Nakano drove the child’s head into her chest, taking her away from their horrified expressions.  
“She is a reject, found no buyer, was tossed back in the streets. I see it too often.”  
The girls turned her head around, unaffected by the whole situation, and she stared at them with her black eyes. Itachi who had avoided to meet her gaze, said,  
“Are they drugging the kids they took away?  
－They do. She has all the signs. Blown up pupil. Cold and white skin. That’s the...  
－...that’s the effect of kyoku,” completed Itachi in a toneless voice.  
“Yes.”

Sasuke looked at them alternatively.  
“Kyoku? I’ve never heard of it.  
－It’s no wonder, my boy. It’s been illegal for a very long time now but in the past, it was used by shinobi of the highest level. Konoha’s anbu was famous for using it.”

Sasuke glanced at his brother thoughtfully before directing his attention back at Nakano.  
“All the drugs I know would make a shinobi less efficient. Clumsier, slower, with a poor judgement...  
－Not that drug. It makes them killing machines by suppressing their emotions. They could make cold hearted decisions and never hesitate. They could kill a child without batting an eyelash. Eventually it became illegal but it keeps circulating underground. Give kyoku to a kidnapped person and they won’t care anymore about being taken away. They won’t resist because they won’t feel a thing. I heard there had also been ‘incidents’. Some victims went berserk but the majority of them lost the will to fight. When the drug wears off, it’s too late, they have already been bought.  
－This traffic really needs to stop.” he shook his head in disbelief, “Take good care of that girl. She’s been through a lot.”

When the Sasuke looked back at his brother, he frowned and there was a crease between his eyebrow. Itachi answered with a faint smile.  
Boruto saw something was going on but he didn’t understand the meaning of their silent exchange.

***

Sasuke knew indeed a place in Amegakure where they could live.  
“I’ve been there with Orochimaru,” he explained, “that man has so many hideouts I’m not even sure he remembers them all.”

The place hadn’t been used in a decade and was hidden from the unwanted eyes. It could only be accessed from a tortuous stair that lead to an underground alley. Another stair took them to a courtyard in which stood a very old house. One of the walls had crumbled and exposed what was once a living room. A green blanket of vegetation covered the three remaining walls and concealed even the windows.  
Itachi looked at the breach in the wall and said,  
“We can’t stay here. Not with a child.  
－We should see the interior before we rush a decision. Boruto knew he wasn’t getting hotel bed when he decided to follow us.  
－Yep! I don’t care about that kind of stuff.” Boruto’s voice sounded convincing but the day in the forest had already been rough from his point of view.

Sasuke retrieved the key that was hidden in an hollow stone of a pillar. The rusty lock didn’t budge and the shinobi gave up with an annoyed sigh before kicking the door open. It gave out with a creak and bounced back at them from the impact.  
“Welcome home,” said Sasuke.

The entry hall was dark and dusty but otherwise decent. The same thing couldn’t be said from the living room. The breached wall had let the rain and the snow damage the inside. The curtains were tattered, the wooden table rotten and in place of a carpet, leaves covered the ground. The wallpaper had been replaced by a fashionable greenish mould. Itachi met his brother’s eyes and rose his eyebrows.  
“Maybe the bedrooms are in a better shape“, argued Sasuke.

He was right. Except for the dust, the other room were in a decent state

“Orochimaru’s room is the biggest,” said Itachi.  
“I am not sleeping in a room that have dead animals floating in jars.  
－He certainly lacks a proper sense of decoration.” Itachi’s eyes shone with a malicious gleam as his eyes met his brother’s smiling face.  
Sasuke put the jar back on the desk and Itachi opened the curtains.  
“It looks better with light.”  
Itachi brushed off the dirt that was on the nightstand and glanced at the bed.  
“You think we should sleep in the same room?  
—It’s nothing we haven’t done before.  
—But there’s Boruto. He’s perceptive.  
—Then he’ll find out.”  
Itachi’s stance stiffened.  
“No one should know.”  
Sasuke inched closer to his brother.  
“Tell me what you want and I’ll do it. Whatever makes you comfortable, I’ll do it.”  
Sasuke’s caring touch ignited the air between them. Itachi closed the gape between their bodies and put his lips on his brother’s ever-thirsty mouth. Sasuke’s arms were warm. It was so easy and natural. He got lost in the sensation, reconnecting with the one he loved. Sasuke stopped kissing him but he remained close, forehead against forehead.  
“There’s nothing to be ashamed off,” Sasuke ushered, “They have no right to judge us for it.  
—Otouto. It’s not about shame. I know shame and guilt, they were my only companions for years. What I dread is that they’d hurt you. I don’t want you to see the hate in their eyes or the way they’d judge you for who you are.  
—They can judge all they want. We don’t need their laws.”  
Itachi stroke his cheek and said, “You can’t run away from society all your life. It always catches up to you.”  
Sasuke stepped back, “We’ll see.”

They found Boruto in what had been Sasuke’s room when he was with Orochimaru. The crest of the Uchiha had been painted on the wall. The paint was chipped and faded but it was the mark that he had been there.  
“Can I sleep in this room?” asked Boruto.  
“Only on one condition.  
—Yes?  
—That you get us some food. I remember there was a market close by. You should find it. Here, take that money and come back quickly.”  
Sasuke had found the money in a stash. Orochimaru had always been far-sighted. There were stashes of money in all his hideouts and Sasuke had taken note of it each time they moved. He knew it could come handy.

Itachi waved at the red and white symbol that covered the wall.  
“You did it?  
—Yes. It was the first month I was with Orochimaru.  
—You missed home.”  
Sasuke turned away from the painting.  
“Who knows?”

***  
Boruto came back from his errand quicker than they had expected.  
“Tomatoes, bananas and … cheese? How do you expect to turn those into a dish?  
—The bananas are for the dessert.  
—Well, but what is the cheese for?  
—To put on the tomatoes. Melted cheese on the tomatoes.  
—Whatever, you’re in charge of the cooking. Even if it does not taste good it will still be edible.”  
Boruto smiled coyly.  
“I have never cooked.  
—You’ve seen your mother cook it should be enough.”  
Sasuke’s standards weren’t high so he didn’t care that much.  
“While I was at the market I heard people talking.  
—That’s what they do indeed.”  
Sasuke was about to turn away but Boruto grabbed his sleeve.  
“I mean, they said the leader of the bandits had escaped. They said the guards had been corrected.  
—Corrupted.  
—Yeah, that word.  
—Well, it has nothing to do with us.”  
Boruto crossed his arms.  
“But it would be easy for you to capture him.  
—I won’t meddle with Amegakure’s societal problems. We didn’t came here for that.”  
Boruto crossed his arms and gritted his teeth.  
“I’m not making dinner.  
—Then, don’t expect to eat tonight.  
—Fine!”

The blond boy ran up the stairs and slammed the door of his room. Sasuke took a long breath and sighed.  
“Sarada, you were right. He is a lot of troubles.”

***

Itachi bent his leg and leant forward to reach his feet. He sank the small brush in the vial of purple nail polish and carefully painted his toes. He hadn’t done it since he had become blind. His bare nails had been bothering him ever since.

Sasuke slid past the door like a shadow and learnt against the tiled wall of the bathroom.  
“I remember father didn’t want you to wear nail polish.  
—No.  
—It suits you.  
—Hmm.”

Sasuke put his elbows on the ledge of the sink. They had already cleaned the bathroom and changed the sheets of all the beds.  
“I asked Boruto to buy me that nail polish. He is a good boy.”  
Sasuke hunched over the sink and glanced at his reflection in the mirror.  
“I know. He is very much like his father. He is unmanageable.  
—It doesn’t mean you have to be harsh all the time,” said Itachi as he spread a purple layer of nail polish on his little toe. 

“I know nothing about education but I know about discipline.  
—What if that’s not what he needs?  
—Then, you go ahead and be his mom.  
—Don’t be so foolish, otouto. I’m merely asking you to be nicer to him.  
—Ask Orochimaru if he was nice to me. I didn’t turn out so bad in the end.”

Sasuke closed the topic when he left a light kiss on his brother’s head and walked out. As he stood by the door, he added,  
“Can I expect you to come to my room when you are done?  
—Yes,” answered Itachi shortly as he lowered his head to hide his face. 

***  
Sasuke had made one of the guest room his own. The bed and the desk were the only furniture. He didn’t mind. He didn’t get attached to things. 

Sasuke heard the sound of light footsteps in the corridor. He opened his door and faced Itachi. His hair were still damp and drops of water fell on his shoulders. The kimono he wore was loosely tied and revealed his chest. The flat silk belt followed the shy curve of his narrow hips.  
“I am here, ” he stated flatly as he stepped inside. Behind the calm water of his smile, Sasuke saw the storm brewing and it made him feel electric too. He was fascinated and his eyes lingered on his brother’s body. 

His hunger had no name and the game he wanted to play was not one he had been told to play with his brother. Childhood seemed so far yet so close to him when he looked at Itachi. His feelings were all mixed up but he felt good.

He caught a strand of his brother’s long black hair and kissed it. He knew Itachi was looking at him doing so and he perceived a slight shift in his stance. Sasuke wasn’t the only one who was famished for intimacy.  
“This is going to change everything,” said Itachi. Sasuke shook his head.  
“No, it won’t change a thing. It was too late already when I decided to break the cocoon in which you were sleeping because I am not complete without you,” he brushed his brother’s jawline with the tip of his fingers and added. “Unike said that. I don’t know how he knew but he read in me. He saw past the severed limb and the rinnegan in my eyes to tell me that I was not whole and he was right.”  
Itachi covered Sasuke’s hand with his own and intertwined their fingers. Behind his calm face, thoughts were fussing in his head. It took a few seconds before he attempted to put it into words.  
“Even in the darkest, grimmest hours of my life… when everything had been taken away from me… I found strength, enough strength to keep on living… because I knew you were there. A part of me died when you died. I suppose, I wasn’t whole either without you.  
—It’s alright now.  
—We are alright.”  
The words melted in a kiss. Itachi’s damp hair tickled Sasuke’s shoulders. His chest wasn’t big enough to hold all those feelings and for the first time Sasuke cried not of sadness and loss but of joy. 

He pressed his body against Itachi’s chest and his hand was lost in his hair. Their chakra rubbed against each other before they mixed like colours on a painter’s palette. Sasuke broke the kiss to take his brother’s hand and lead him on the bed. The kimono had slipped and revealed Itachi’s shoulder.  
“Can I untie that yukata?” asked Sasuke.  
It was the first time Itachi touched and was being touched since he had recovered his sight. He didn’t want to be so vulnerable and exposed in the light of the candles. He said no with the head and began to undress Sasuke instead. 

The desire in his loins was pulsating, coming and going like waves when the tide comes in. He unbuttoned his brother’s shirt with fingers made vague by the lack of experience. Even if he didn’t know, his body knew the way. He left a trail of kissed on Sasuke’s collar bone as he freed him from his shirt. 

Sasuke was not a child at all and it eased Itachi’s mind. He wasn’t the boy he had left in his own world. He was older than him. He had broad shoulders and the hair on his chest was another proof of his virility. The realization fueled his desire.

Sasuke bent to beg for another kiss and Itachi gave it to him while he ran his hand on his back, earning a moan in the process. His underwear began to feel tight and he saw a bulge in Sasuke’s pants as well. He needed to feel his cock. His body knew that much.  
Fast! He undid his brother’s pants. His hand wrapped around Sasuke’s shaft and he masturbated him the same way he liked on himself.  
A hand stopped his motion.  
“For the Sage’s sake, Itachi! Not so fast! I’m never going to last.”  
Sasuke was flushed and his eyes gleamed with desire barely restrained. Itachi look at him with incomprehension.  
“Otouto, is there more to sexuality than this?  
—Yes! I mean, you should know. You’ve certainly done it before.”  
Itachi kept quiet.  
“You must have at least tried?” said Sasuke with alarm in his voice.  
“I tried once with a woman.  
—That’s already something.  
—She was an assassin who had been mandated to kill me. I gave up on the idea afterwards.”

Sasuke rested his hand on his forehead and brushed his fringe backwards trying to regroup his thoughts. His brother was a virgin.  
Itachi was a virgin.  
The corner of his lip quivered nervously.  
It wasn’t that surprising and he had had doubts ever since the first time they got intimate but he had brushed the thought away.

Itachi waited on him with calm eyes and a disheveled kimono.  
“There is a lot that can be done. Let me show you.” Itachi nodded the same way he nodded when he was learning some new exiting jutsu.  
“Can I undress you now?”  
In answer, Itachi loosened the belt circling his waist and let the fabric slid on his back.  
Sasuke pressed his hand against his brother’s chest to make him lay down on the bed. The light of the candles licked his pale skin and threw sensual shadows on his body. 

Sasuke covered him. He was heavy and warm. With his thumb, he stimulated his nipples until they hardened in two pink buds. Itachi drew out a long and needy breath.  
Sasuke sucked at them while his hand descended over his brother’s chest. He rubbed his flat stomach before going down and down until he found Itachi’s hard penis. In this place only his hairs were dense and curly.  
A low sound escaped Itachi’s throat when he stroke him at a painfully slow pace. Sasuke licked a trail downwards and Itachi straightened to look at what he was doing. He fell back on the bed with a moan when Sasuke’s lips wrapped around his cock. He wasn’t prepared for that! 

He was engulfed by a wet warmth. Instinctively his hand sought out Sasuke’s head and got lost his hair. The same primal force made his knees weak and his thigh heavy with the need to spread.  
Sasuke hummed a satisfied sound when he parted his legs. His brains did not know the words but his body knew the melody and Itachi, as a shinobi, trusted his body. 

The sight of Sasuke swallowing his whole length flashed before his eyes and made him arch his back. He couldn’t even look at his brother, the sensation of his tongue rolling underneath his shaft was enough to make him feel dizzy.  
A sudden cold hit his moist member. Sasuke had gone up in the bed to face him. Their cocks brushed together and Sasuke kissed his neck until he was close to his ear. He whispered,  
“Do you want to go further? It will hurt a little but I’ll be gentle.  
—I want the whole thing.”

Sasuke pecked at his lips and rolled to the side of the bed to get a bottle of oil that he had fetched from the kitchen in anticipation.  
“This will get you slick and prepared.  
—Oil?  
—Yes.”

Sasuke wanted to engrave the moment in his memory. Itachi. His long black hair spread on the pillow. His reddened nipples. The needy and vulnerable light in his eyes. The way his lips were parted, waiting.  
“I absolutely want you to tell me to stop if you feel uncomfortable.  
—I won’t because it’s you,” answered Itachi as seriously. 

Sasuke placed himself between Itachi’s legs,  
“Spread them.”  
His order was instantly executed. He oiled up his fingers. Itachi stiffened when he got closer to his entrance.  
“Shhh, it’s alright. It will feel good.”  
His brother relaxed and even drew his legs closer to his chest to give him a better access. He circled around, teasing the sensitive flesh until he felt Itachi giving in. He introduced a first knuckle in and slid easily. He went back and forth a few times before adding a second finger. Itachi bucked his hips in sync with the pace he had set. It was harder to loosen him when came the third finger but his moans intensified. Sasuke himself was getting on edge. The sight of Itachi closing around his fingers and always asking for more was almost enough to break his will. 

He made sure his cock was slick before probing against Itachi’s hole.  
“Is it alright?  
—Yes.” The words were hurried, almost unnecessary.  
Sasuke gave a shallow thrust. Tight and soft flesh molded around his cock. A flash of pain showed on his brother’s face. He sooth him with a kiss and stroke his penis before he moved again. This time, Itachi called his name. His respiration was noisy, and throaty. He wrapped his legs around Sasuke’s waist and squeezed with each thrust. 

They were both getting close and feeling their orgasm building up. Sasuke buried himself inside his brother as they both came.  
Itachi clenched around him before Sasuke pulled out and collapsed on top of his brother.  
“It didn’t hurt, ” said Itachi but Sasuke shut him up with a kiss.  
“Just this once, can you stay the night?  
—Sasuke…” desire lingered in his voice but it was mixed with regret, “don’t ask me that, because if you ask, I won’t be able to say no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1, 619 words of porn... Oh, boy I felt rusty writing this scene. I hope it was up to your expectations 🙊
> 
> EDIT. WE ARE NOW ABOVE 50K WORDS! HOW EXITING!!


End file.
